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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 July 10, 2009 6 Comments

NY Times columnist Judith Warner writes today about "the fact that our country’s resentment, and even hatred, of well-educated, apparently affluent women is spiraling out of control." Her proof? A college professor is being charged with child endangerment for dropping three young children (ages 3,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 10, 2009 23 Comments

Sarah Palin's announcement that she will resign as Governor of Alaska has kicked off a new round of attacks on Palin's intelligence and integrity from pundits on both sides of the political spectrum. For most of the commentators, the resignation signals an end to Palin's...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 10, 2009 2 Comments

Hope: Or a change:(photos via Drudge and HotAir)I know, he was just watching his step to make sure he didn't slip.--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 09, 2009 5 Comments

Leon Panetta, Director of the CIA, reportedly gave closed-door testimony to Congress indicating that the CIA withheld certain information from Congress, but there is no indication what that information concerned. This stands in stark contrast to Panetta's prior public statement that Congress was "truthfully" informed...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2009 11 Comments

As I posted previously, Reuters ran a staged photo of a bloodied Honduran protester (upper right). Contrary to the clear implication of the Reuters story, the protester was not bloodied from the protests, but as reported by Hunter Smith at Honduras Abandoned, the protester deliberately...

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

Yes, the Democrats do own the federal government now. And everything that happens is theirs alone. The good, the bad, and the ugly. But since the mainstream media is in the tank for Obama, don't expect to hear that view in the major newspapers or...

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

One of my enlightened readers from Seattle has a solution to save the planet. He took time out of his busy day to share the secret with me. And since this secret is so important, I will share the advice with you:Have a nice life,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 06, 2009 20 Comments

Week-by-week, world event-by-world event, the public humiliation of Hillary Clinton is taking place right before our eyes. Actually, not before our eyes. Hillary has gone missing.There was a time when United States Secretaries of State were front and center in foreign policy making and implementation....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 05, 2009 13 Comments

Reuters has run photo of a bloodied Honduran protester (below) dramatizing the bloodshed at protests for Manuel Zelaya. (h/t) Problem is, this photo appears to be staged.Blogger Hunter Smith, who recently finished his Marine service including two tours in Iraq, flew to Honduras to cover...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 05, 2009 1 Comment

Reliable news is hard to come by, particularly from a foreign country going through turmoil. Which is why new blogger Hunter Smith is doing such a service by blogging (text and photos) from inside the crowds on the streets of Tegucigalpa.Hunter recently completed his service...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 05, 2009 4 Comments

Sarah Palin is a quitter, according to certain commentators, because she did not serve out her term of office. If that is the case, Palin is in "good" company.I present to you, Barack Obama, photographed in front of the Capitol, the building where he served...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 04, 2009 7 Comments

Reports are that ousted President Manuel Zelaya will return to Honduras Sunday, July 5, regardless of what Hondurans want. The Catholic Church in Honduras has asked Zelaya not to return to avoid bloodshed, and the military says that it intends on arresting him on court...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 04, 2009 71 Comments

I waited a whole day before posting about the Sarah Palin resignation. Well, not a whole day, but longer than almost everyone else in the blogosphere. Here's my take as of this moment in time, subject to change:I don't know why Sarah Palin resigned, what...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 03, 2009 12 Comments

With each passing day, the vapidness of the Obama administration's foreign policy becomes more clear. Lofty words spoken in the capitals of Europe and the Middle East were just words. From the warm embrace of the bully Hugo Chavez, to the cynical mixed-messages on the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 01, 2009 28 Comments

The Obama administration's actions towards Honduras continue to defy logic. On the one hand, Obama states that he is for the rule of law. Yet Obama meddles in the worst possible way in Hondurans' attempt to protect their country from a Chavez-style tyranny. Read Fausta's...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 01, 2009 6 Comments

I don't think confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee should turn on public polling. Nonetheless, when the public polls favored Sonia Sotomayor, supporters of Sotomayor argued for the relevance of these polls, arguing that "that Obama apparently found the American political center in appointing her."Then...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 01, 2009 16 Comments

Andrew Sullivan is back on his Trig Palin birther hoax theory, that Sarah Palin is the grandmother and Bristol Palin is the mother. Or what Sullivan calls And The Story The MSM Still Won't Touch.Sullivan has no evidence, just unanswered questions. That's all it takes...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 30, 2009 7 Comments

In Neda in Palestine, Sentenced to Die Alone, Max Blumenthal at Huffington Post compares Israel's self-defense against suicide bombers from the West Bank to the Iranian crackdown on protests against election fraud which resulted in the death of Neda Soltan. Once again, false analogies and...

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