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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.

Many, including Barack Obama, have dismissed the notion that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leader of the opposition in Iran, would make any difference to the policy of Iran since Mousavi, among other things, is considered the father of the Iranian nuclear program, and is steeped...

(h/t MAinfo) -------------------------------------------- Take a look at Remember "Ahmadinejad Won. Get Over It." and Iran Election Fraud Truthers Emerge Follow me on Twitter and Facebook ...

To read Andrew Sullivan's posts on the suppression of the opposition in Iran, you would think American "NeoCons" (whoever they may be) were in the streets swinging batons from the backs of motorcycles, trashing the library at Tehran University, and breaking into homes in pursuit...

Is the collapse of the Soviet Union a reasonable analogy for what may happen in Iran? There are certain parallels, including repressive regimes bent on imposing ideology to perpetuate their own rule. In each case, it is hard to imagine how the repression could end,...

The "Supreme Leader" of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, staked out the hardest of lines today, demanding that Iran's opposition accept the official election results and stop street protests, or else. He blamed the violence on "ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for the espionage machines of...

There is a lot more to the turmoil in Iran than meets the eye. I think the threat to the regime is more serious than people let on, if the world keeps watching and Iran is not permitted to pull a North Korea and seal...

You knew this was inevitable. Regardless of what Barack Obama said or did, the Iranian regime would accuse the U.S. of meddling in Iran's internal affairs:Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of "intolerable" meddling in its internal affairs, alleging for the first time that...

Barack Obama has come under criticism not only for his silence for several days, but also his failure to issue more forceful words of support for the protest movement in Iran.Others counter that more forceful words of support would be counter productive, that there is...

There has been much dialogue, including on this blog, about the proper posture for the Obama administration to take with regard to the reform movement and protests in Iran. Many commenters argue that only Iranians can decide what is right for Iranians, and point...

David Brooks has a piece in today's NY Times in which he explains how Barack Obama will pass health care reform. The solution can be summed up in two words: Deception and Tyranny.After allowing the political process (and all those messy bad interest groups) to...

The Congressional Budget Office has released its preliminary assessment of draft legislation to reform health insurance, and the picture is ugly. (h/t/ HotAir)Contrary to the claims by the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats that the reform will provide coverage for all Americans without busting the...

In the weeks prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Johns Hopkins Professor and noted Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami wrote that a free Iraq might have a profound impact on neighboring Iran:It is in the nature of things today, in an Iranian...

Barack Obama's proclivity to talk endlessly, particularly on television, has earned the mockery of supporters such as Bill Maher. But on what may be the most important evolving events in a generation, Obama is silent.As hundreds of thousands of Iranians protest fraudulent elections, and demand...

A study reported in today's New York Times suggests that the practice of sex-selection, commonplace in Asia, continues in subsequent generations of immigrants to the United States: The trend is buried deep in United States census data: seemingly minute deviations in the proportion of boys...

The Washington Post reports that the Iranian election outcome is consistent with its polling in Iran prior to the election. Not everyone is convinced by the Post numbers. Nonetheless, while noting the difficulty of polling in Iran, the Post article raises a interesting question.If...

Jake Tapper reports:The White House has not issued a statement expressing support for the protestors declaring the election illegitimate. But neither has anyone in the Obama administration said a public word accepting the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection. "We're reacting to concrete facts," a...

Via Michael J. Totten (h/t Instapundit). Read Totten's entire post. It is heartbreaking, particularly the reports that the Iranian people are waiting for encouragement, at least spoken, from the U.S. Will Obama support the Iranian people, or the Regime? It could make all the difference in...

The Blog of Legal Times (BLT) is reporting that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated recently that she expected Sonia Sotomayor to be confirmed, and that Sotomayor would be a welcomed and qualified addition to the Court. BLT noted that such commentary by...