Deadline Day, Big Four’s BIg Moves, Funder Friends: The Morning Minute

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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

 

PAY DAY - In a closely watched labor and employment case with broad implications, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in D.C. federal court is expected to rule from the bench today on the deadline for the EEOC to collect a broad scope of pay data from companies with more than 100 employees. Chutkan last month reinstated the Obama-era pay-data rule, which requires large employers to provide pay information based on gender, race and ethnicity, after concluding the Trump administration unlawfully scuttled it. Business advocates have complained the rule is burdensome and that the data could be misinterpreted.

EXPANSION MODE - Big Four accounting giant EY has spent the past 12 months building up its legal arm in Hong Kong and Singapore, and as John Kang reports, it is now looking to broaden its reach in Southeast Asia with plans to add a technology practice. EY is expected to launch new legal services operations in Indonesia and Malaysia, locations that are among the five largest economies of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

LOBBY PROS - Litigation funders are arming themselves with top lobbyists as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushes to force disclosure of funding agreements in civil actions. Dan Packel reports that the third-party funders have hired the likes of Wilmer’s Jonathan Yarowsky, co-chair of the firm’s public policy and legislative affairs practice; lobbyist Ken Cunningham, former chief of staff and general counsel to Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Grassley; and Danielle Cutrona, the former senior counselor to ex-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

EDITOR’S PICKS

 

Facebook Expects Up to $5B Loss in Possible FTC Fine Over Data Privacy Problems

Senior Lawyer at Luxury Brand House Claims Sexual Harassment, Retaliation

Judge Dismisses Suit Against Quinn Emanuel by Partners of Spinoff, Sends to Arbitration

Ninth Circuit Judges Consider Trump's Move to Make Asylum-Seekers Wait in Mexico

Exercise Your Way to Becoming a Smarter Lawyer

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

 

BIG FOUR - And if EY’s move into Southeast Asia isn’t enough, PwC’s legal arm says it’s mounting a major move into financial services in the U.K. The Big Four accounting firm plans to recruit at least 50 lawyers during the next 18 months and continue to expand the practice in the next three years, Rowan Bennett reports.

 

WHAT YOU SAID

“I’ll get the president to send out a positive tweet about you later.”

— JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISOR AND SON-IN-LAW TO PRESIDENT TRUMP, TO MICHAEL FLYNN, ACCORDING TO THE MUELLER REPORT, AFTER FLYNN RESIGNED AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR, FOLLOWING REPORTS ABOUT HIS COMMUNICATIONS WITH RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR, SERGEY KISLYAK.