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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 June 29, 2009 8 Comments

In a 5-4 ruling authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the ruling by Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor and two other Court of Appeals judges in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano. [Full opinion and analysis below]In Ricci, white New...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 28, 2009 100 Comments

It really is hard to understand why some adults feel the need to make fun of Trig Palin, a one-year old who has Down Syndrome. Politics alone cannot explain it. If you don't like Sarah Palin, fine, but why go after Trig?The controversy regarding the...

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

A court in Great Britain has found that a religious Jewish school engaged in racial discrimination by applying the traditional definition of who is a Jew as part of its admissions policy.Traditionally, whether one is Jewish is determined by maternal lineage. If one's mother is...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 25, 2009 4 Comments

Barack Obama has apologized repeatedly for past U.S. transgressions, real and imagined, although he never demands apologies from others.So it is only natural that the Iranian Mullahs, whose thugs are beating people with axes in the streets, would demand that Obama apologize to Iran:“Change means...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 25, 2009 12 Comments

I didn't watch the ABC-White House health care special last night because the set up was one-sided. From an ABC report of the program, however, it appears that all did not go as planned for the White House, as two physicians in the audience challenged...

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

Bombing the funerals of your opponents is a red line in most conflicts. The Israelis don't bomb Hamas or Hizbullah funerals, and vice versa. George Bush refused to bomb Taliban funerals. Al-Qaeda, however, has no such compunctions, as it repeatedly has sent suicide bombers to...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 24, 2009 4 Comments

During the campaign and after assuming the presidency, Barack Obama repeatedly stated his willingness to engage in negotiations with Iran without any preconditions. But that was and is not true.The events of the past two weeks, including the revelation that Obama sent a letter in...

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

Want to laugh out loud? Read "Barack Obama, Deficit-Slayer" by Matthew Yglesias: As the economy recovers, tax revenues will rise, social safety net outlays will fall, and stimulus measures will begin to tamp down. If we can assume further growth in 2011, the complete expiry...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 22, 2009 2 Comments

Flynt and Hillary Leverett of the New America Foundation are two of the main proponents of the "Grand Bargain" approach to Iran which has been adopted by the Obama administration. The Grand Bargain approach seeks to have the current Iranian regime promise to cease nuclear...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 21, 2009 8 Comments

The claims of election fraud in Iran and resulting civil unrest have given rise to a conspiracy theory which is making its way through the internet: The claims of Iranian election fraud are an Israeli-created hoax spread by manipulating Twitter.The first reference to this conspiracy...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2009 0 Comments

Many, including Barack Obama, have dismissed the notion that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leader of the opposition in Iran, would make any difference to the policy of Iran since Mousavi, among other things, is considered the father of the Iranian nuclear program, and is steeped...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2009 6 Comments

(h/t MAinfo) -------------------------------------------- Take a look at Remember "Ahmadinejad Won. Get Over It." and Iran Election Fraud Truthers Emerge Follow me on Twitter and Facebook ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 19, 2009 11 Comments

To read Andrew Sullivan's posts on the suppression of the opposition in Iran, you would think American "NeoCons" (whoever they may be) were in the streets swinging batons from the backs of motorcycles, trashing the library at Tehran University, and breaking into homes in pursuit...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 19, 2009 4 Comments

Is the collapse of the Soviet Union a reasonable analogy for what may happen in Iran? There are certain parallels, including repressive regimes bent on imposing ideology to perpetuate their own rule. In each case, it is hard to imagine how the repression could end,...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 19, 2009 1 Comment

The "Supreme Leader" of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, staked out the hardest of lines today, demanding that Iran's opposition accept the official election results and stop street protests, or else. He blamed the violence on "ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for the espionage machines of...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 18, 2009 1 Comment

There is a lot more to the turmoil in Iran than meets the eye. I think the threat to the regime is more serious than people let on, if the world keeps watching and Iran is not permitted to pull a North Korea and seal...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 17, 2009 10 Comments

You knew this was inevitable. Regardless of what Barack Obama said or did, the Iranian regime would accuse the U.S. of meddling in Iran's internal affairs:Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of "intolerable" meddling in its internal affairs, alleging for the first time that...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 17, 2009 9 Comments

Barack Obama has come under criticism not only for his silence for several days, but also his failure to issue more forceful words of support for the protest movement in Iran.Others counter that more forceful words of support would be counter productive, that there is...

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