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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 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...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 03, 2009 11 Comments

Life in the blogosphere is not fair. For weeks I have been beating the drum about the IRS being involved in our health care under Democratic proposals: IRS The New Health Care Enforcer (August 14, 2009).I greatly appreciated the links from InstaPundit, American Thinker, and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 03, 2009 5 Comments

The hot topic at this precise moment in time is the concept of a public option "trigger" being proposed by Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe.Snowe was one of only three Republicans to vote for the February 2009 stimulus plan; without those three Republicans (one of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 03, 2009 2 Comments

This is the fifth 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 02, 2009 4 Comments

The British papers have been on a tear recently exposing the fundamental flaws in their socialized health care system.Today The Times of London exposes the out-of-control cost of the British system. Rather than controlling costs, as is promised by American supporters of a "one-plan, one...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 02, 2009 22 Comments

I told you this was coming. Two weeks ago I predicted that when Glenn Beck returned from vacation, he would go on the offensive against Van Jones and the others behind the boycott of Beck's Fox News show.This was the only available strategy, since the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 02, 2009 7 Comments

This is the fourth 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 02, 2009 2 Comments

Greg Sargent at The Plum Line blog notes that the Obama campaign apparatus, Organizing for America, has upped its attacks on the media:This has to be the Obama camp’s most direct and premeditated shot at the media yet: His outside political operation just blasted an...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 01, 2009 9 Comments

The federal Department of Education has released a script for pre-K through 6th grade teachers to use in conjunction with Barack Obama's "historic" nationwide speech to elementary school students on September 8.The script instructs teachers to use the following questions with the students after the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 01, 2009 3 Comments

The Liberty Torch "is a symbol of Central America’s independence from Spain in 1821, and is normally passed across the countries of Central America this time of year. The passing of the torch this year, however, will skip the inclusion of Honduras."Guess who is going...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 01, 2009 3 Comments

John Kerry has a column at Huffington Post, beating the "global warming is a threat to national security" dead horse.Been there, done that.Kerry can't make the economic or environmental case for cap-and-tax regulations, so he resorts to fear-mongering based on speculative worst-case scenarios:Climate change injects...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 01, 2009 2 Comments

This is the third 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 01, 2009 3 Comments

The media and left-wing blogosphere are in a tizzy because Virginia Republican candidate for Governor Robert F. McDonnell took negative positions on gay-rights and other topics in a university thesis 20 years ago. McDonnell now disavows those views, saying his views have changed over time,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 31, 2009 3 Comments

Dan at Gay Patriot has an interesting post on how Ted Kennedy saved a girl from the Soviet medical system, which could not treat her disease. Fair enough, Teddy saved a girl (I'm resisting the urge to mention ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 31, 2009 2 Comments

This is the second in a series of posts analyzing randomly selected provisions in HR3200, the House Democratic health care restructuring bill. In the prior post, I examined the almost incomprehensible section 1721 concerning payments to primary care practitioners.The page selected for this post, using...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 30, 2009 8 Comments

No one has been able to get a full grasp on the scope of the health care system restructuring proposed by the Democrats. I have written extensively on some of the more interesting tax provisions, but I only have scratched the surface. The pending House...

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