Welcome back to another week of our Top 10 in Law Blogs! This week’s assortment includes a post from law student Jay Evans about an upcoming hackathon at Michigan State University, and the value these events have in educating future attorneys; an incredibly useful “cheat sheet” of the ever-evolving travel ban regulations from Jonathan E. Meyer and Greg Berk of Sheppard Mullin; and new LexBlog Editor-in-Chief Bob Ambrogi’s debut in the Top 10, with an interview of Mark Britton, CEO of newly-acquired Avvo. We hope you have a safe and happy weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun v. Yukon: SCC addresses the role of courts in resolving modern treaty disputes – By Stephanie Axmann of Canadian ERA Perspectives: On December 1, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued its decision in First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun v. Yukon,[i] concerning a contested land use planning decision of the Yukon Government under the Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement. The case is one of only a few by the SCC to substantively address modern treaties,[ii] and thus provides helpful commentary with respect to the principles governing the interpretation of modern treaties, the role of the courts in resolving modern treaty disputes, and the scope of the appropriate remedy where government has breached its treaty obligations. View Full Post

Hackathons Play a Critical Role in the Education of a 21st Century Attorney – By Justin Evans of Intellectually Jay: On January 19th- 21st, Michigan State University (MSU) will be hosting its fourth annual student-run hackathon, SpartaHack IV. Spartahack is focused on bringing students across different disciplines together and giving them a platform to realize and harness their own fresh ideas. A hackathon is a perfect setting for discovery, where participants have the opportunity to get to know each other better, take on new roles, and utilize material that they are being taught in the classroom. View Full Post

2018 Brings Continued Calls for a Federal Data Protection and Breach Statute – By Rahul Mukhi and Britta Redwood of Cleary Cybersecurity and Privacy Watch: In the wake of the high-profile breaches at Equifax and Uber, several constituencies have been making a sustained push for a federal data protection and breach statute.  Last week, a broad coalition of bank, insurance and retail associations urged Congress to pass national legislation establishing uniform data protection and breach notification standards.  In their letter, the organizations stressed that businesses and consumers would benefit from uniform requirements, in contrast to the current regime involving overlapping and sometimes differing State requirements.  Among other things, the letter urged Congress to adopt legislation that imposed flexible and scalable standards for data protection depending on the size and nature of the company and exclusive enforcement of the new national standards by the FTC and state Attorneys General (other than entities subject to state insurance regulation or who comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and HIPAA). View Full Post

Confused by the Evolving Travel Ban? Here’s a Cheat Sheet with the Latest Guidance – By Jonathan E. Meyer and Greg Berk: While the Travel Ban continues to move up and down the federal court system, here are the latest rules governing travel for citizens of the affected countries as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s lifting of the lower courts’ injunctions on December 4, 2017, a December 22 ruling by the Ninth Circuit invalidating the latest travel ban but not enjoining it, and recent action by a Federal District Court in Seattle partially lifting the refugee ban on December 23, 2017. View Full Post

Contracts in football – the unconventional, bizarre, and shocking – By Jack Blakey of Sports Shorts: The first of January saw the opening of the 2017/18 winter transfer window. Clubs have until 11pm on 31 January to conclude their business for this season. As ever, transfer windows bring with them much speculation about potential moves and the terms of new contracts signed by players. Speculation that Lionel Messi would leave Barcelona was at its peak last summer. FC Barcelona announced that an agreement was being pursued between the parties but it was yet to be agreed with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Had he not signed a new deal, Messi would be eligible to leave Barcelona as a free agent in the summer of 2018. If Messi was ever – realistically – to leave Barcelona, this seemed like the opportune time, perhaps the only time. View Full Post

Aviation’s gender pay gap – By Ashleigh Standen of Legal Flight Deck: The gender pay gap has been an issue of much public discussion in the last year. The latest figures show that the overall national average for the pay gap between male and female full-time employees stands at 9.1%. However, the aviation sector is one which has seen particularly negative results. With new rules regarding pay gap reporting in place and the April 2018 reporting deadline looming, this issue will not be going away – rather, it is likely to become more prominent as more results are published. View Full Post

For #MeToo Moment to Last, Strengthen Whistleblower Protections – By Aaron Jordan of Whistleblowers Protection Blog: The Golden Globe Awards this Sunday put the #MeToo movement in the spotlight. Many actresses wore black to express to solidarity, and a number of them brought important activists as their dates. Millions were raised for a legal defense fund to help women fight sexual harassment and abuse.This is good news for women around the country. The #MeToo movement has shown that women who have been harassed in the workplace are far from alone, and that even powerful men can be brought down for their misdeeds. It has demonstrated that consumers, companies and voters do not want to bolster misbehaving men. Increased funding for legal organizations will not only help women bring cases but also improve case law through impact litigation. View Full Post

#legaltech #innovation: Changes for the Better? – By Stephen Embry of TechLaw Crossroads: I constantly marvel at the technology we have today. I am a tech and innovation evangelist. I believe the delivery of legal services can and will be improved and disrupted. I can’t wait. But that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes reflect back to the way things were when I first began as a lawyer. Some things were worse. Some things were better. Some were just, well, different. And I wonder how much the technological tools we have and the innovation that’s out there have truly created the positive changes of which they are capable. View Full Post

Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans in U.S. to End in 2019 – By Michael H. Neifach and Amy L. Peck of Immigration Blog: Ending all speculation, the Secretary of Homeland Security has announced the end of temporary protected status (TPS) for approximately 200,000 Salvadorans who have been in the United States since 2001, following two earthquakes in El Salvador. The termination will be delayed for 18 months, until September 9, 2019, to allow for “an orderly transition.” This follows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recent termination of TPS for Guinea, Haiti, Liberia, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. In her announcement, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said DHS conducted extensive research and outreach before coming to its decision. View Full Post

Comments from CEO Mark Britton on Avvo’s Acquisition by Internet Brands – By Robert Ambrogi of Law Sites Blog: As I blogged a little while ago, legal directory site Avvo has been acquired by Internet Brands, a company that is one of the world’s largest operators of websites that serve targeted vertical markets and that already owns a variety of legal websites, including Nolo, Lawyers.com, Martindale-Hubbell, Total Attorneys, and others. I just got off the phone with Avvo founder and CEO Mark Britton, who provided further details of the acquisition. View Full Post