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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 September 09, 2009 23 Comments

During Barack Obama's speech tonight, Obama said it was untrue that "the reforms I am proposing" cover illegal aliens. Someone in the audience, reportedly South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, yelled out "liar."Now this isn't the British parliament, so I don't agree with shouting out....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 09, 2009 4 Comments

Barack Obama's speech on health care tonight was a good effort to re-frame the debate and the issues, but ultimately was a non-starter because it relied on governmental powers of coercion, a public option as to which Obama will not back down, the illusion of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 09, 2009 2 Comments

that would make a difference?Tweak the public option, call it "competition" and expect everyone to follow?Tweak mandates, call them "choice" and expect everyone to follow?Tweak the dozens of new bureaucracies created, call them "helpers" and expect everyone to follow?Tweak the taxes and penalties, call them...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 09, 2009 2 Comments

Camille Paglia nails it again:By foolishly trying to reduce all objections to healthcare reform to the malevolence of obstructionist Republicans, Democrats have managed to destroy the national coalition that elected Obama and that is unlikely to be repaired. If Obama fails to win reelection, let...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 08, 2009 4 Comments

To read the left-wing blogosphere and mainstream media, one would think that the American people were victims of a vast right-wing conspiracy. As if the critics of creeping government control of the health care and economic systems somehow were misleading an otherwise liberal population into...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 07, 2009 8 Comments

Andrew Sullivan, writing at TimesOnline (London) notes the circus of conspiracy theories sweeping the land. He ought to know.Sullivan goes on to argue that Obama will end up with a victory on health care restructuring, although many of the controversial aspects will be dropped:Nonetheless, I...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 07, 2009 4 Comments

If Hillary Clinton were President, things would be quite different. For one, Hillary would have a mandate for health care mandates, which are the key to Democratic health care restructuring.Everyone focuses on the public option, but the public option is a mere necessary component of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2009 2 Comments

This is the seventh* and last of a series of posts analyzing randomly selected provisions in HR3200, the House Democratic health care restructuring bill. The hope is that through random selection of pages from the House Bill, using the dartboard method, some light will be...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2009 7 Comments

The lesson being learned by the left-wing blogosphere from the sputtering Glenn Beck boycott and the Van Jones Affair is not that political arguments should be won on the merits, and in the hearts and minds of the public.No, the lesson being learned is that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2009 6 Comments

At his Liberaland blog, Alan Colmes of the hated Fox Network asks: Van Jones Resigns; Who Will They Go After Next?Good question, but it depends on what the meaning of "they" is. According to Keith Olbermann and Gene Robinson, the next White House official to...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 06, 2009 2 Comments

I made the classic blogger's mistake of getting a full night's sleep last night, rather than checking the internet every hour.When I awoke, every single blog I know had a post about how Van Jones had resigned sometime just before or after the stroke of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 05, 2009 9 Comments

A lot of people are asking "who vetted Van Jones?" or wondering how the Obama administration could have missed the problems. These are valid questions, but they miss the point.Van Jones is a mainstream member of the left-wing of the Democratic Party. Like over half...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 05, 2009 7 Comments

MSNBC just cannot stop covering and cheering for the Obama administration. Either they don't understand their own news biases, or they don't care, or both. This blog post by several of MSNBC's news staff, including reporter Chuck Todd, says it all:*** Remind us again how...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 04, 2009 5 Comments

The "I'm not a doctor, I just play one on TV" analogy moved into the political sphere long ago, most recently when a faux doctor appeared at a town hall run by Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.Now we have something of a reverse analogy, someone...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 04, 2009 0 Comments

This is the sixth in a series of posts analyzing randomly selected provisions in HR3200, the House Democratic health care restructuring bill. The hope is that through random selection of pages from the House Bill, using the dartboard method, some light will be shed on...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 03, 2009 6 Comments

The Obama administration is taking its bad August out on Honduras, announcing today the imposition of economic sanctions: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, responding to calls to increase pressure on the de facto Honduras government, announced the termination on Thursday of about $22 million...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 03, 2009 6 Comments

The internet is abuzz today with news that Glenn Beck foe and Obama administration Green Czar Van Jones is a 9/11 Truther, meaning he thinks the Bush administration either planned or at least knew of the 9/11 attacks in advance.Jones will end up resigning, and...

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