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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 05, 2009 7 Comments

I think it's time for the Blogospheric Neologian to coin a new political phrase:SpecterenfreudeThe pleasure derived from watching Arlen Specter do unto Democrats that which Specter did unto Republicans.In the course of his first week as a Democrat Specter voted against the Democratic budget, rejected...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 05, 2009 110 Comments

MSNBC, Obama's favorite network, reported on Obama's trip with Joe Biden to get a burger. Just two wild and crazy guys out for some red meat. Andrea Mitchell (does she have nothing else to do?) reported that Obama ordered a burger and mustard. Sounds like...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 05, 2009 5 Comments

Al-Jazeera, which has served as a continuous conduit for al-Qaeda videos, has released a hit-piece on American troops in Afghanistan.The highly edited, and ominously narrated, few minutes of tape purport to reveal a plot a year ago by a group of Christian evangelical American soldiers...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 05, 2009 0 Comments

For the past several Supreme Court nominations, the hot issue has been abortion. Whether a nominee supported Roe v. Wade was the litmus test, both for conservatives and liberals. Predictably, nominees shied away from opining on whether they would vote to uphold either the outcome...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 03, 2009 6 Comments

A video of Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor, reportedly on Obama's short list to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court, has come to light (video and transcript via Volokh Conspiracy). Sotomayor stated as follows during a panel discussion at Duke Law School in...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 03, 2009 3 Comments

The Ransom of Red Chief is a short story written by O. Henry in the early 1900's about a child kidnapped for ransom in a small town by two criminals. But the criminals did not know what they were getting into, as the exuberantly mischievous...

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

The Obama administration has been bipolar. When it comes to economic issues, Obama is in the process of attempting to fulfill the left-wing's wildest dreams of nationalized health care, government control over the most minute details of the economy, and redistribution of wealth through tax...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2009 1 Comment

The guessing game as to who is on the short list of potential nominees for David Souter's spot on the Supreme Court has begun. Many of the names are understandable because of their experience and credentials, regardless of whether one would support them: Elena Kagan,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2009 0 Comments

Two lawyer stories, each one has meaning:A 59-year-old lawyer with an Atlanta-based firm who was about to lose his job because of the economy was found dead in his Washington office yesterday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. The source said [Mark]...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2009 25 Comments

News is breaking that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is retiring. There will be a fight over his replacement, for sure. And Arlen Specter switching may have given Republicans a trump card to block an unacceptable replacement.Everyone, including me, has been blogging about how Specter...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 30, 2009 0 Comments

I was critical of Senator Susan Collins of Maine for her support of Obama's stimulus plan. But Collins did not deserve to be charged with contributing to the possible swine flu pandemic, which is a charge leveled against her and spread throughout the internet and...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 29, 2009 8 Comments

UPDATE: Alan Colmes e-mailed me to indicate he meant no offense, and said "C’mon Professor, we’re BOTH blowhards." Well, that may be going a bit too far, but thanks for the note. I take back what all those people said about him.----------------------------------------------------I am...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 29, 2009 25 Comments

It would be very easy to fall into a depression over Arlen Specter switching political parties, giving Democrats a likely filibuster-proof Senate majority. The result will be that Obama will be able to push through much of his agenda without meaningful debate.Not that I will...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 28, 2009 3 Comments

Reports indicate that the deal the United Auto Workers has struck with Chrysler will include majority Union ownership of the company, and a seat on the Board. This is the single best news the American auto industry has heard in decades.I have been a harsh...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 28, 2009 0 Comments

In what should go down in internet history as one of the most embarrassingly misleading posts, John Nichols of The Nation authored an article titled "GOP Know-Nothings Fought Pandemic Preparedness." The joke was on Nichols, because Nichols and the nutroots bloggers who ran with his...

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

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo was shouted down and bullied off the stage a couple of weeks ago at the University of North Carolina by protesters opposed to Tancredo's stand on illegal immigration. Tancredo espouses the apparently radical view that we should enforce immigration laws; in...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2009 3 Comments

The Nation has run a post, "GOP Know-Nothings Fought Pandemic Preparedness," which seeks to blame the opponents of the Stimulus Plan for lack of preparedness for the swine flu outbreak. The post, like most big lies, has a kernel of truth, but twists reality for...

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