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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 January 27, 2009 0 Comments

James G. Lindsay, the former General Counsel of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has issued a detailed 84-page report harshly critical of UNRWA's policies with regard to Palestinian refugees. The report is titled "Fixing UNRWA...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 27, 2009 0 Comments

Hamas set off a massive roadside bomb at the Gaza border, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding several on the Israeli side of the border. In return fire, one Palestinian was killed. So how do British papers report the story? Here are the headlines:The Guardian:...

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

Last October was our first Halloween in Ithaca, New York. Because I couldn't tend to the door, I put a box of candy on the front porch, with a sign that said "Please be honest, take just one."This being Ithaca in the month before the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 25, 2009 3 Comments

On Monday, January 26, 2009, the impeachment trial of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich begins. Nominally, the trial will be held by the Illinois Senate with the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court presiding. In reality, this case is, and always has been, under the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 25, 2009 2 Comments

Estimating the size of crowds traditionally has been an art, not a science. The art part of crowd-estimating leaves much to the artist's interpretation. Police departments often go with their "gut" feeling based upon experience with prior events, or a helicopter flyover.In the case of...

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

You know the old saying, "those who can't do, teach." When I was in private law practice, I took that saying as gospel. Now that I teach, I'm not so sure I like it, or that it's true. I think a better phrase might be,...

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

An air strike from a Predator drone killed 15-20 people in the tribal areas of Pakistan yesterday. According to most reports, the targets were al-Qaida operatives. Presumably, the CIA, NSA, and other government intelligence agencies had intelligence information as to the location of the operatives...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 23, 2009 0 Comments

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich just finished a press conference in which he claimed that he is not participating in the Senate impeachment trial, scheduled to start Monday, because the Senate impeachment trial rules deprive Blagojevich of a fundamentally fair hearing. Blagojevich is right that he...

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

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans ...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2009 0 Comments

As if the flubbed oath of office wasn't enough, it has now been revealed that the all-star musical ensemble at Barack Obama's inauguration didn't play the music you heard live. The honorable Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, Yo-Yo Ma, and Anthony McGill actually played on the...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 22, 2009 5 Comments

Dramatic increases in domestic drilling were offered as the answer to many of our economic problems last summer when gas was approaching $4 per gallon. Even Democrats were forced to recognize the need to open up some offshore drilling, and pressure was building to drill...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2009 0 Comments

Symbolism counts for a lot. In a highly symbolic move, Barack Obama's first President-to-President phone call was to Abu Mazen, a/k/a Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian Authority:In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, [Obama]...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 21, 2009 6 Comments

I really wanted to put my disgust at Bush Derangement Syndrome behind me in approaching Obama.Yes, Obama and his supporters (i) repeatedly lied about Bush lying us into war, (ii) distorted the court rulings on Gitmo to create the false impression that Bush is a...

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

On the morning of the inauguration, when attention was focused on the peaceful transition of power from George Bush to Barack Obama, the NY Times disclosed that it had taken out a loan from Mexican financier Carlos Slim on terms that would shame the worst...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 20, 2009 1 Comment

The Associated Press already has announced that Hamas is "restoring order" to Gaza, just like Hamas did in July 2007, before the Israeli invasion. The UN is decrying the "alarming" humanitarian situation, just like it did in July 2008, before the Israeli invasion. And British...

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

Israel has ended its Gaza operation in the hope that Hamas has learned to change its ways. No surprise, Hamas already is attempting to rearm with even longer-range missiles via a large shipment from Iran:US and Egyptian warships were scouring the Gulf of Aden and...

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