 In 1973, he earned his juris doctor from New York University School of Law, where he served on the Law Review and was a Pomeroy Scholar.He was in private practice from 1973 with the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, serving as a partner there from 1980 until his judicial appointment.In 1992, President George H. W. Bush nominated Jacobs to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, succeeding Wilfred Feinberg, and before him Thurgood Marshall.