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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 May 31, 2009 0 Comments

“Scott, you said that – or the President said, repeatedly, that Harriet Miers was the best person for the job. So does that mean Alito is sloppy seconds, or what?” CBS News Correspondent, John Roberts, at White House Press Briefing, questioning White House Press Secretary...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 30, 2009 4 Comments

Bruce Ackerman, a prominent constitutional law professor at Yale Law School, warned against the tactic of "stealth" Supreme Court nominations, where an ideologically driven President who seeks to change the direction of the Supreme Court nominates a relatively undistinguished appeals court judge whose lack of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 30, 2009 4 Comments

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." So it is said. We now have reached stage three of the Sotomayor debate, because we are into statistical analysis of her opinions and dissents.First, some backdrop on statistics as relates to Supreme Court nominees. During the confirmation...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2009 3 Comments

At a 2001 conference, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor uttered these now-famous words: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2009 1 Comment

Louis Susman of Chicago was nicknamed "the vacuum cleaner" because he was so good at cleaning out the pockets of the wealthy to get them to give to Democratic causes and candidates. As noted on this blog last February, Susman was in line for ambassadorship...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2009 2 Comments

The New York Times has an article today about Sonia Sotomayor's board membership at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEP) starting in the 1980s until she joined the federal judiciary in 1992. According to the article, Sotomayor was far from a passive...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 28, 2009 15 Comments

Barack Obama campaigned on the theme of a new era of transparency. Obama used that theme as a justification for the release of four highly classified internal Justice Department memos detailing strategies for interrogation of al-Qaeda detainees, over the objections of Obama's own Director of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 27, 2009 2 Comments

On December 9, 2008, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald held an emergency press conference to announce a criminal complaint against then Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. While there were many accusations, the most prominent and inflammatory was that Blagojevich attempted to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2009 1 Comment

A federal lawsuit has been filed challenging Proposition 8 (via Instapundit and Volokh Conspiracy). The lawsuit was filed last Friday, May 22, 2009, by noted Republican attorney Ted Olson, and noted Democratic attorney David Boies. Olson and Boies were on opposite sides of the landmark...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2009 2 Comments

The California Supreme Court has issued a split ruling, upholding Proposition 8 but also upholding the validity of gay marriages which took place prior to passage of Prop. 8.Proposition 8 enshrined in the California Constitution the traditional definition of marriage, providing that only marriages between...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2009 5 Comments

In an earlier post, I noted how one Huffington Post blogger, Allison Kilkenny, had called John Bolton "crazy" just five days ago for warning that North Korea was on the verge of another nuclear test. I wondered whether there would be an apology in light...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2009 48 Comments

On May 20, 2009, John Bolton wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal titled "Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test" in which he noted that the complacency of the Obama administration about North Korea's nuclear ambitions (and Iran's) was misplaced:"The curtain is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2009 2 Comments

When the NY Times takes Obama to task, I am always a little suspicious. Will this be a "he's not perfect, but at least he's not Bush" type of critique; a compliment disguised as a criticism.So I don't know what to make of this piece...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2009 0 Comments

Gateway Pundit has a good update on the murder of Ilan Halimi:Ilan was lured to his death by a woman he had met in his telephone store. They met up late on the night of January 20, 2006, in one of Paris's southern suburbs, Bagneux....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 23, 2009 11 Comments

The latest internet outrage-bubble started with a post at Politico titled RNC's below-the-belt shot at Nancy Pelosi, regarding a Republican National Committee YouTube video about Nancy Pelosi. I agree with AllahPundit that the RNC should not have produced the video, among other reasons, because "they...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 23, 2009 2 Comments

In response to those who want Dick Cheney to "shut the hell up," a group in favor of "telling Dick Cheney to keep talking."--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 22, 2009 9 Comments

Put aside the merits of the two speeches by Barack Obama and Dick Cheney. What is interesting is the timing. I think Toby Harnden has an interesting observation:But the very fact that Obama chose to schedule his speech (Cheney's was announced first) at exactly the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 21, 2009 4 Comments

Obama is giving his speech now on the issue of terrorist detention policy and the closing of Gitmo. I'll leave it to others to parse all aspects of the speech, although it is clear that the overriding theme is: "It's not my fault, blame Bush."...

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