Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

Author: William A. Jacobson

Profile photo

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 June 12, 2009 1 Comment

Visualizations seem to be multiplying under the Obama administration, because it is so hard to fathom just how fast and far Obama is planning to increase the national debt. Since trillion has become the new billion, it makes sense to visualize that the Obama debt...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 12, 2009 10 Comments

Paul Krugman proved, once again, why he has no credibility. In a column in today's New York Times, titled "The Big Hate," Krugman blames conservatives for the shooting at the Holocaust Museum because conservatives have had the audacity to harshly criticize the Obama administration.Krugman picks...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 11, 2009 1 Comment

Barack Obama is spinning his public health plan option today as just another way of helping preserve the private insurance system. According to Obama, the existence of a public plan will provide healthy competition for private insurers, and will not be the first step toward...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 11, 2009 6 Comments

In a highly scientific analysis, John Hawkins ranks the Top 40 Conservative Blogs. I'm pleased that he lists Legal Insurrection as #18.I'll take it. And thanks.--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 10, 2009 14 Comments

One thing, to a certainty, is that the Holocaust Museum shooting by a long-time neo-Nazi white supremacist, who previously committed an attempted shooting at the Federal Reserve in 1981, will be used for political purposes.Although the shooting is only hours old, numerous blogs already are...

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

Latest tail-wags-dog faux story: Israeli "Minister without Portfolio" Yossi Peled sent an 11-page letter, revealed by the Jerusalem Post, to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. At one point in the letter, Peled says that if the U.S. keeps moving in an anti-Israel direction, Israel should reconsider...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 10, 2009 5 Comments

See Update No. 2 Below------------------------------------------------------When I saw the link at Memeorandum, I did a double take: Palin's `Rashomon moment'.Was CBS News' Political Hot Sheet blogger Charles Cooper really using a rape analogy for Sarah Palin, on the heels of the raging controversy over CBS late-night...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 09, 2009 9 Comments

Ed Whelan "outed" law professor "Publius" causing an interesting Sunday at Memeorandum. My last post concluded that Whelan and Publius deserved each other.Now Whelan apologizes. And Publius accepts the apology and wants to move on to covering John & Kate Plus 8 (not that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 09, 2009 1 Comment

In today's New York Times, columnist David Brooks has a novel theory of why Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's Latina identity has worked its way into Sotomayor's speeches, if not her judicial decisions: Blame it on the 1970's.No, seriously. According to Brooks, Sotomayor had bad...

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

Annonyblogging-Gate keeps going, with new posts by Jonah Goldberg and others at Memeorandum.One blog post that hasn't received enough attention, though, is by Simon Owens at Bloggasm, who actually has spoken with both Ed Whelan and Publius. Are bloggers allowed to speak to people rather...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 08, 2009 3 Comments

If you want to know why Barack Obama was spitting into the wind with his "historic" speech to the Muslim world, at least as regards the Israeli-Palestinian issue, there is no better example than this juxtaposition of Palestinians booby-trapping horses as part of a failed...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 08, 2009 2 Comments

In a speech last February at Wake Forest University, columnist David Gergen "compared Obama’s ability to focus during difficult times to Tiger Woods’ ability to focus during a difficult golf match."Now this from the opening sentences of a lead NY Times article today:President Obama was...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 08, 2009 1 Comment

Hamas reacted to Obama's "historic" speech to the Muslim world by attempting to kidnap Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border last night, in a coordinated assault timed also to coincide with the Lebanese elections:DEBKAfile's military sources report at least four Palestinians killed after Israeli air...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2009 2 Comments

Election result are in from Lebanon, and the pro-Western "March 14" parties are the big winner:The March 14 alliance clinched around 70 out of 128 seats, maintaining its majority in parliament after defeating the Hizbullah-led alliance in Sunday's crucial elections. Celebrations broke out in several...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2009 0 Comments

From The Guardian, showing that investment fraud is universal:Jawad Tawfiq, a 52-year-old Gazan actor and director, was dubious at first, but his nephew insisted. If they could scrape together enough money, the nephew said, large profits could be made from investing in the tunnels that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2009 19 Comments

Conservative blogger Ed Whelan "outed" an anonymous liberal blogger who penned under the name Publius. Turns out Publius is a junior law professor who was afraid that revealing his identity would jeopardize his career prospects and family relationships. While Publius worried about the reaction of...

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

In his "historic" speech to the Muslim world, Barack Obama spoke up for the rights of women. The first example Obama used was the right of Muslim women in the West to wear hair covering (italics mine):The sixth issue that I want to address is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 05, 2009 3 Comments

A portion in Barack Obama's "historic" speech to the Muslim world was particularly odd. In apologizing for religious intolerance in the United States, Obama said as follows:Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways...

Accessibility by WAH