Mr. Jacobs is a 1976 graduate
of New College of the University of South Florida and a 1980 graduate of Harvard Law
School. He joined Fisher Wayland Cooper Leader & Zaragoza (now Shaw Pittman) in 1982,
and became a partner in 1989. His practice focuses on counseling companies developing new
technologies that are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.
For several years, he has been principal
outside regulatory counsel to American Mobile Satellite Corporation, which launched the
first U.S. domestic mobile satellite system. AMSC is a publicly-traded company whose
largest shareholders include GM Hughes Communications, AT&T Wireless, and Singapore
Telecom. On behalf of AMSC, Mr. Jacobs has participated extensively in proceedings
involving the allocation of spectrum, the licensing of satellite systems and mobile
terminal equipment, and the regulation of mobile services. He also has counseled AMSC on
the communications regulatory compliance issues involved in its 1993 Initial Public
Offering, the largest underwriting for a new venture in the United States in that year.
On behalf of another client, WavePhore, Inc.,
Mr. Jacobs has been active in securing FCC approval for the use of television stations to
transmit high-speed data to personal computers, and in a related standards-setting
process. He is counsel to the Voice on the Net (VON) and others whose businesses involve
multimedia use of the Internet. Mr. Jacobs also represents companies in the areas of cable
television, wireless cable, and radio and television broadcasting.
Mr. Jacobs prepared the chapter
"Government Regulation of Multimedia," Multimedia Law and Practice, Michael D.
Scott (Prentice Hall Law and Business, 1994). He is a past president of the Mid-Atlantic
Chapter of the Society of Satellite Professionals International and a past member of the
District of Columbia Cable Commission. Mr. Jacobs is a member of the District of Columbia
and Maryland bars, and American and Federal Communications Bar Associations. He served as
Founding Co-Chair of the Committee on Legal Opinions of the FCBA.
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