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 July 26, 2009 26 Comments

The proper ending to the controversy over the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. should not be an apology or a sit down for beer at the White House. This no longer is a private affair, so Prof. Gates' desire to "move on,"...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 25, 2009 9 Comments

The Congressional Budget Office once again has poked a massive hole in the Democratic health care "reform" bubble, in a report issued today.One of the key elements of the Democratic proposals is to hand over the power to make cost cuts to an unelected, unimpeachable...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 25, 2009 0 Comments

The French army finally has won a war. It managed to burn down a suburb of Marseille during artillary pracice without suffering any casualties among its troops:MILITARY bombing practice has caused one of France's worst fires for three years which continues to rage on the...

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

Leave it to The NY Times to create a faux historical context to absolve Barack Obama of criticism over Obama's statement that the Cambridge Police acted "stupidly" with regard to the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.What faux historical context, you ask? The Times compares...

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

This video, courtesy of The Right Wing Czar, is too funny. Somehow, I recall Obama channeling Seinfeld once before.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh3ln3swL7Q]--------------------------------------------Related Post:Obama Channels SeinfeldFollow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 24, 2009 15 Comments

I hope the Cambridge Police Department releases the 911 call which reported a burglary in progress at the home of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gate, Jr., and the subsequent radio calls from Sgt. James Crowley. Add to that, all witness accounts, including by the two...

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

Lynn Sweet is from Chicago, where Barack Obama launched and refined his community activist/politician credentials. Sweet writes and blogs for the Chicago Sun-Times, and is one of my favorite columnists/bloggers.When Sweet asked the now-famous question to Barack Obama last night about the arrest of Henry...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 23, 2009 1 Comment

William F. Buckley, Jr. famously said:I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University. Reflecting on...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 22, 2009 25 Comments

I guess I owe something of an apology to Huffington Post blogger Martha St. Jean who wrote yesterday about the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.:I believe Gates did what anyone would do, he yelled at the officer, probably called him a few...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 22, 2009 8 Comments

"Keep your laws off my body" has been a rallying cry of liberals, and the pro-choice movement in particular, for decades. The concept is that medical procedures are so intensely personal that government, regardless of its intent, should not be involved in the decisions.Yet when...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 22, 2009 4 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu1q17rUkVU]--------------------------------------------Follow me on Twitter and Facebook...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 22, 2009 3 Comments

"The time for talk is over." That sentence should be the new slogan of the Obama administration. Forget "Change We Can Believe In" or "Yes We Can." Those were yesterday's slogans, when Obama wanted but did not yet have power.The time for talk was over...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2009 10 Comments

On the controversy regarding the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Martha St. Jean at Huffington Post writes:I believe Gates did what anyone would do, he yelled at the officer, probably called him a few names and maybe told him he was not...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2009 7 Comments

The current Democratic House bill on health care includes fines to force people to purchase health insurance, which is consistent with Barack Obama's current position on mandates. This type of coercion, however, was criticized by Obama during the campaign, when he attacked Hillary Clinton's health...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2009 3 Comments

Every now and then, David Brooks makes sense. Today is one of those days, in his column at the NY Times, Liberal Suicide Watch:It’s not that interesting to watch the Democrats lose touch with America. That’s because the plotline is exactly the same. The party...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2009 1 Comment

If you want a good measure of how desperate Barack Obama has become to force through his health care agenda before the August recess, there is no better evidence than Obama's conference call yesterday with far left bloggers such as Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2009 9 Comments

Harvard Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested for disorderly conduct. According to news reports, police responded to a call from a neighbor that someone was trying to break into Gates' house by forcing open the door. It turns out the person trying to break...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2009 2 Comments

Do we really need a Latke Czar, as suggested by Bruce Bialosky (h/t Israel Matzav):This may not affect the average American, but to Jewish Americans this is of utmost importance. Since the President has done everything possible to antagonize Jews over Israel, I thought he...

Accessibility by WAH