Happy December and, most importantly, happy Friday! Between the tumultuous events at the CFPB, the trial of Michael Flynn, and accusations of sexual harassment against Matt Lauer, this week has been an incredibly active news cycle. This week’s top 10 blog posts includes the debut piece from Jordan Galvin’s blog, about how the MSU Law student uses the Kanban system in her work with MSU’s Center for Legal Services Innovation (LegalRnD); an update on a recent decision in favor of the rights of street artists from Katharine Haydock of Hughes, Hubbard, & Reed; and a post on the distribution of funds raised by the Texas District & County Attorneys Foundation to benefit prosecutors, investigators, and administrative staff impacted by Hurricane Harvey. We hope you have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you next week for another round of LexBlog’s Top 10 in Law Blogs.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: The SEC Pursues a More Streamlined Enforcement Agenda – By Jeff Kern and Kate Ross of Government Contracts and Investigations Blog: One of the most eye-catching items in the recently released 2017 Annual Report of the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) is the significant decline in enforcement activity from 2017. The report, issued on November 15th and summarizing the agency’s activity from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017, has drawn scrutiny from numerous commentators, who view the decline as the result of an ideological shift from the aggressive, prosecutorial style of enforcement of ex-Chairwoman Mary Jo White to a more restrained approach under new Chairman Jay Clayton. However, the SEC insists that despite this shift, it is not “slowing down.” View Full Post

“Getting Receipts” – The Millennial Disconnect Between Short-Term Social Media Posts and HIPAA – By Ankita Patel of HIPAA & Health Information Technology: Long gone are the days when social media consisted solely of Myspace and Facebook, accessible only by logging in through a desktop computer at home or personal laptop. With every single social media platform readily available on personal cellular devices, HIPAA violations through social media outlets are becoming a frequent problem for healthcare providers and individual employees alike. In fact, social media platforms like Snapchat® and Instagram® that offer users the opportunity to post “stories” or send their friends temporary “snaps” seem to be a large vehicle for HIPAA violations, specifically amongst the millennial generation. View Full Post

Update: Enforcing an Artist’s Rights in Street Art – By Katharine Haydock of HHR Art Law: A six-member jury has returned an advisory verdict finding that a property developer violated more than twenty graffiti artists’ “right of integrity” under the Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”) when it whitewashed a building bearing nearly fifty of those artists’ works. As covered previously on this blog, the artist plaintiffs filed suit under VARA in 2013, seeking to enjoin developer Wolkoff’s demolition of that Long Island City building, nicknamed “5Pointz,” which Wolkoff had previously invited the artists to use as their canvas, and which had eventually gained renown as a “graffiti Mecca.” View Full Post

Are We Headed for Divorce Season? – By Leslie Spoltore of Family Matters: An article in Medical News Today  highlights a study by University of Washington Associate sociology Prof. Julie Brines and doctoral candidate Brian Serafini that found patterns in the timing of filing for divorce. Specifically, the study found “biannual patterns of filings for divorce – that divorce is seasonal during the periods following winter and summer vacations.” View Full Post

How Prevalent is Harassment in Organizations? – By Michael C. Harrington of Employment Law Perspectives: Recently it seems that we are constantly learning about another high profile individual who has allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct/harassment in the workplace.  These disclosures beg the question of how prevalent is sexual (or other forms of unlawful) harassment in our workplaces.  It is easy to believe that for every high profile individual who has misbehaved, there are countless of other employees who have similarly misbehaved.  Moreover, many of the recent disclosures suggest that the employer in question knew or had reason to know of the alleged misconduct, which had occurred over an extended period, but failed to take any prior action.  So what should organizations do now? View Full Post

Kanban for Law: How I Use Kanban to Manage LegalRnD Projects – By Jordan Galvin of The Law Project: The purpose of a Kanban system is to create a visual representation of a workflow that ultimately improves the quality and percentage of tasks completed, minimizes waste, and highlights areas where a process can be improved. A Kanban board is segmented into derivations of three basic columns, called “lanes”: (1) To Do; (2) Doing; (3) Done. The lanes can be renamed to fit the needs of the project. View Full Post

The Only Winning Move…. – By Ed Adrian of Freedom and Ethics: The purpose of this blog is not supposed to be political, its a forum to discuss ethics and government in Vermont. If you want politics, you can check out my political blog over at Sugaring Off. With that said, it’s important to discuss the ethical dilemmas (and the associated procedural and policy hurdles) faced by the Burlington City Council last night as it decided who would be the new purchaser for Burlington Telecom. Again for a bit of history on the subject, I’d refer you to Sugaring Off. With history out of the way, it becomes important to unpack exactly what transpired during the course of the Burlington City Council’s eight hour marathon session. View Full Post

Texas Prosecutors and County Attorneys Help Harvey-ravaged Colleagues – By Amy Starnes of Texas Bar Blog: In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the Texas District & County Attorneys Foundation created a relief fund and asked people to donate to help their struggling peers. As a result, this week the foundation gifted $1,000 per person to 40 prosecutors, investigators, and administrative staff in eight South Texas counties. View Full Post

Airbnbs and Short Term Rentals- More Than Just Strata Bylaws At Play – By Chad Travis and Aman Sara of the Real Estate Law Blog: Thinking of purchasing a strata lot to rent out on the short-term market? If so, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the applicable rental restrictions. The popularity of short-term rentals such as Airbnb continues to soar, making them an increasingly attractive revenue stream for potential property investors. View Full Post

Puerto Rican Evacuees Increase Pressure for Affordable Housing in Florida – By Sorell Negro of The F.L.U.D. Zone: More than 150,000 people have left Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria devastated the island in September and have come to Florida.  This surpasses the number of Cubans who fled to Miami in the Mariel boatlift of 1980.  Evacuees continue to arrive and are in need of housing and other services including health care and schools.  It is reported that nearly half of the evacuees are arriving in Orlando, which is anticipated to be dramatically changed by the mass migration.  While many evacuees have been staying with relatives or in hotels, they are increasingly looking for more permanent housing. View Full Post