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Author: William A. Jacobson

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William A. Jacobson

William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School.

He is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. At Harvard he was Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Director of Litigation for the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project.

Prior to joining the Cornell law faculty in 2007, Professor Jacobson had a highly successful civil litigation and arbitration practice in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrating in investment, employment, and business disputes in the securities industry, including many high profile cases reported in leading newspapers and magazines.

Professor Jacobson has argued cases in numerous federal and state courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Professor Jacobson has a national reputation as a leading practitioner in securities arbitration. He was Treasurer, and is a former member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a professional organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting public investors. He frequently is quoted in national media on issues related to investment fraud and investor protection, and in the past has served as one of a small number of private practice attorneys who trained new arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Professor Jacobson is co-author of the Securities Arbitration Desk Reference (Thomson-Reuters), updated annually.

Professor Jacobson is frequently quoted in the media on political and legal topics, has authored many Op-Eds in major publications, and appears on television and radio to discuss politics and the law.

A more complete listing of Professor Jacobson's professional background is available at the Cornell Law School website. The views expressed here are his own and not those of any employer or organization,

The best way to reach Prof. Jacobson is by e-mail here.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 23, 2010 0 Comments

Nothing to worry about in Yemen: Because al-Qaeda is just a joke: Apparently, al-Qaeda doesn't have a Twitter account, so it never got the message.--------------------------------------------Related Posts:About That "Firecracker"Not So Scary Terror?Terrorist Attacks Plane, Think Progress Attacks Pete HoekstraFollow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2010 8 Comments

Sometimes a Memeorandum thread almost speaks for itself.In this case, the push launched by Balloon-Juice, Sadly No, Daily Kos and others to demand that the House pass the lousy and unpopular Senate bill as is.With backers like these, Democrats have nothing to worry about.Democrats, particularly...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2010 3 Comments

Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu sold their reputations for hometown deals as part of the Senate health care bill. Now that the Senate bill is dead, they have nothing to show for the sale.Raymond J. Donovan was Secretary of Labor under Ronald Reagan. Donovan was...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2010 4 Comments

The mainstream media finally is waking up to the under-the-radar social media revolution which hid in plain sight in the Massachusetts Senate special election. As reported by the Wall Street Journal:A study [embedded below] conducted by the Emerging Media Research Council out today found that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2010 3 Comments

April 29, 2009, Relax, The Dems Will Screw Up:What history shows us is that a liberal, blame-America-first Democratic President, urged on by a liberal, blame-America-first Democratic Congress, is a prescription for political self-destruction. Leave Democrats to their own devices, and they will screw themselves politically,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2010 3 Comments

Enthusiasm among the youth of America for the Democratic Party is vanishing almost as quickly as their MySpace accounts in the age of Facebook: It appears there is a potentially huge problem for Democrats going into the 2010 election cycle: young people simply are not...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2010 5 Comments

(via Day by Day)--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2010 12 Comments

Hot off the presses: After Scott Brown's victory, the only thing that could top this would be for Nancy Pelosi to announce that she doesn't have the votes in the House to pass Harrycare. Hey, you can't take away my dreams.Update: OMG, dreams really do...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2010 13 Comments

Barack Obama reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down parts of McCain-Feingold campaign contribution restrictions:With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2010 19 Comments

While Democrats of all stripes are taking pot shots at each other over Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, others are preparing to make sure the next Scott Brown is smeared before he or she can get traction.Martha Coakley's many gaffes were of her own creation....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2010 2 Comments

My article, analyzing how Scott Brown won the Massachusetts election, is posted at Pajamas Media, The Brown Campaign from the Ground Up. Here's a short excerpt:By the time of the only televised debate on January 11, the country was gripped with interest in the race....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2010 12 Comments

The Democrats' plan to force through an unpopular health care restructuring bill is not dead. Various procedural maneuvers are under consideration to get the bill through, in one form or another, in a manner which does not require another Senate cloture vote now that the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2010 7 Comments

If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, what to do when two political enemies go at each other. This would make them both my friends, which screws up the equation.That's the way I feel watching Lanny Davis and "The Left" go at each...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2010 10 Comments

Yesterday was an amazing day, and not just because Scott Brown won (although that helped).Yesterday was the first "live" blogging event here. 21,432 people participated in the live event, generating 5,402 reader comments. There were almost 70,000 visits to the site, which used to be...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2010 10 Comments

From the political scientist who passes off insult as analysis, came this snark directed at me for my analysis of the January 5, 2010 Rasmussen Poll which ignited interest in this race: The fact that even the polling firm most favorable to the GOP has...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2010 12 Comments

Following the coverage of the Massachusetts Senate special election the past few weeks meant I had to read The Boston Globe online.Much of The Globe's coverage was geared towards gaming the election for Martha Coakley, including the disingenuous announcement on election morning that the race...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2010 5 Comments

Advice to Democrats. The "progressive" agenda is not to blame. Obama is not to blame.All really would have been well had Martha Coakley achieved Obama's numbers (duh), according to John Cole at Balloon-Juice:I know a lot of you are really upset about the loss, but...

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