Welcome back to another week of our Top 10 in Law Blogs! Two law-blogging powerhouses, Heather Morse and Bob Ambrogi, recently underwent website/blog redesign adventures and, true to form, both of them wrote about their experiences and offered their insights for others considering a web change. Other great features this week included Colin Levy’s interview with the founding director of the Transactional Lab & Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, Michael L. Bloom; Audrea Fink’s rumination on the value of finding your “tribe” in a professional capacity; and Aleks Ostojic Rushing and John W. Borkowski’s update on transgender issues in schools. We look forward to seeing you again next week for more legal news and insight.

Texas Court Holds Drop In Oil Prices is Not Force Majeure – By Jackie E. Hickman: On Thursday, a divided panel of the Texas Court of Appeals in Houston held that the 2014-2015 drop in oil prices is not a force majeure for purposes of general force majeure contractual protection. In TEC Olmos, LLC v. ConocoPhillips, the court addressed a dispute between ConocoPhillips Company and TEC Olmos over a farmout agreement that required Olmos to commence drilling by a specified date.View Full Post

3 Reasons Finding your “Tribe” Matters – By Audrea Fink: I’m more than just a little excited because TOMORROW I’m meeting up in person, face to face, with my favorite Think Tankers! JulieKathryn and I are going to be in the same windy city at the same time and that means we’re going to be doing some serious collaboration! View Full Post

How to Hire an Employment Law Attorney for Your Business – By Daniel Schwartz: You might think the title of this post is a bit self-serving or even self-promotional. Is this post just going to be a backhanded way to hire me, an employment law attorney? I want to dissuade you of the notion because that’s actually not my purpose.   View Full Post

My lessons from a less than perfect website redesign process – By Heather Morse: I see so many programs on “How to launch a perfect website.” Well, let me tell you my truth: My website website redesign process was less than perfect, and Robert Algeri and I are talking about doing a program about the truths behind a law firm website roll out. View Full Post

Update on Federal Courts Addressing Transgender Issues in Schools: Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board and Doe v. Boyertown Area School District – By Aleks Ostojic Rushing and John W. Borkowski: Within the last couple of weeks, two decisions were issued that relate to transgender students’ use of facilities in public schools.  In Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a federal district court judge denied the Gloucester County school board’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s amended complaint. View Full Post

Data Breach Damages Need Only Be a “Trifle” – By E. King Poor, Linda C. Emery and Marisa Berlinger: What sort of damages must be pleaded to survive a motion to dismiss in a data breach class action? Recently, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit inDieffenbach v. Barnes & Noble answered that question. In short, the court held that at the pleadings stage, damages may be just a “trifle.” The case arose when Barnes & Noble experienced a data breach that resulted from the compromise of its point of sale system in 63 of its company stores. View Full Post

A New Look and a New Home for this Blog – By Robert Ambrogi: Over the nearly 16 years of this blog’s existence, it had just two homes. When I launched it in 2002, I published it on an early version of Google’s Blogger that supported hosting on non-Google servers. But in 2010, after Blogger decided to discontinue support for externally hosted blogs, I moved the blog to Justia, where it happily resided ever since. View Full Post

Issues of employment status in France – By Marie-Thérèse Eugénio: France makes a distinction between those individuals with an employment status and independent workers. Under French employment law, an employee is defined as an individual who works pursuant to an employment contract (and under the subordination of the employing entity) and receives a salary in return for his or her services. View Full Post

Board Engagement: The Ethics and Compliance Missing Link – By Doug Harmon: It’s been a year since I wrote about The Board’s Overlooked Role in Compliance. At the time, it seemed that momentum was building for more proactive board engagement in establishing and overseeing compliance programs. After all, regulators and courts have been increasingly outspoken about the importance of effective compliance programs and pointed about the essential role of boards of directors. View Full Post

Professor Michael L. Bloom – By Colin S. Levy: Professor Michael L. Bloom is the founding director of the Transactional Lab & Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. The clinic is an experiential program giving students the opportunity to work on transactional matters for large multinational companies. Prof. View Full Post