Welcome to Labor of Law. Immigration law is central to joint ventures between Big Four accounting firms and specialized law firms. Football season has begun, and the NFL has plenty of labor and employment issues in play. On the docket watch: Uber just defeated class certification in the Ninth Circuit, and a former top executive at Cushman & Wakefield is suing for alleged race and gender discrimination. Scroll down for who got the work and notable moves in the employment world.

➤➤I'm Erin Mulvaney in Washington, D.C., covering labor and employment from the Swamp to Silicon Valley. Follow this weekly newsletter for the latest analysis and happenings. If you have a story idea, feedback or just want to say hi, I'm at [email protected] and on Twitter @erinmulvaney.

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Big Four's Bet on Immigration Law

The big accounting firms PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte may have exposed how marketable immigration law has become central to Big Four accounting firms making inroads with the legal market. Within a few months, Big Four firms inked deals with highly focused boutique immigration practices. PwC announced an alliance with U.S. immigration specialist law firm Fragomen, a few months after Deloitte's similar deal with Berry Appleman & Leiden. “There's a lot about the immigration practice that makes sense: the ability to think about efficiencies, technology and high volume,” J. Stephen Poor, chair emeritus of Seyfarth Shaw tells my colleague Dan Packel in his piece at The American Lawyerthat's worth checking out. “Those are characteristics that play right to the Big Four's strengths.”

As Packel writes: “From the perspective of PwC and its peers, immigration law—and mobility expertise more generally—is a product they can sell to significant institutions, not just small and medium-sized businesses. And it's more likely than not part of an integrated offering that they're providing to clients on an ongoing basis.”

Robert Tannous, managing partner of Columbus, Ohio's Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, has been watching the Big Four warily for some time., according to the American Lawyer piece. Even though the full-service firm has an immigration practice, its focus on inbound immigration for smaller businesses doesn't necessarily put it in conflict with these heavyweights yet. “I think they're going to go after everything eventually,” Tannous said.

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Labor Issues Take the Football Field

The National Football League has been in the center of a debate over free speech since fall 2016, when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem, an effort to draw attention to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. At the root, the issue is one of workplace protection, Grant Alexander, partner in Alston & Bird's litigation and trial practice group and Sean Crain, a senior associate, write in a new piece at Law.com. It's worth a read—here are some highlights.

Football players are employees and union members, so what are their rights to free speech? Private employees largely can check speech rights at the door. An interesting wrinkle, Alexander and Cain point out, are social media policies that could create blurry lines for the players who speak out outside of work. Many players, who have the option to not take the field during the anthem, could still wield social media to make their political statements.

“Much like speech in the workplace, the NFL and other employers have the ability to curb the use of social media during work hours in order to control speech in the workplace,” Alexander and Cain write. “Should NFL players and staff use social media in the locker rooms during the national anthem to express their viewpoints, the NFL may make additional modifications to their policy to address the use of social media.”

They continue, “Regardless of NFL policies and practices, employers should review their own social media policies to ensure that those policies are updated and reflect the law in the employer's state of business.”

Social media policies can “prohibit the use of company computers to access social media sites during business hours and can also prohibit the use of company computers and hand-held devices to access those sites,” the Alston & Bird lawyers write. “However, employers should also be careful about the use of social media during non-work time that uses personal technology.”

State and local laws could come into play. In California, “companies cannot discipline or terminate employees for engaging in lawful, off-duty conduct. Additionally, California prohibits discrimination against employees based on political affiliation.”

Notable Moves

>> Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart formed a manufacturing practice group, co-chaired by Milwaukee shareholder Bud Bobber and Denver shareholderRobin Repass. The firm said in its announcement that “attorneys have served manufacturers in sophisticated labor, wage and hour, immigration, workplace safety, and a wide range of other employment and labor matters for decades.”

>> Littler Mendelson named Thomas Burns as its chief financial officer. Burns, based in Kansas City, will be responsible for the firm's accounting strategy and overseeing financial operations. Prior to joining Littler, Burns has spent much of his career with DST Systems Inc.

>> Former National Labor Relations Board member Kent Hirozawa, whose term expired two years ago, will return to Gladstein Reif & Meginniss LLP, the union and worker-side firm, Law360 reports.

Who Got the Work

>> A former top executive at real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield sued her former employer for alleged race and gender discrimination in Washington federal district court this week. Nicole Urquhart-Bradley, one of the few women and only African American service-line executives, said she was treated unequally compared to white men before her termination earlier this year. She is represented by Sanford Heisler Sharp, and the team is led by Deborah Marcuse. Cushman & Wakefield is represented by Mary Dollarhide, a DLA Piper partner in San Diego. Read more here.

>> Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Jason Schwartz and Ryan Stewart faced off with Shannon Liss-Riordan in federal court over whether rental car company Enterprise Holdings Inc. was responsible for a claim of one of its franchisees in Boston. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted Enterprise's motion to dismiss. “Plaintiff has not adequately alleged joint employer status for the simple reason that he cannot do so,” the Gibson Dunn team wrote for the company. Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan represented the plaintiff, who claimed he was owed overtime pay. The franchisees were also represented by Barry Mill and Hillary Massey of Seyfarth Shaw.

>> Wigdor LLP filed a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint this week on behalf of former Ernst & Young partner Karen Ward with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The case is the latest discrimination accusation by a former employee from the Big Four accounting firm. In April, partner Jessica Casucci filed a charge that she was sexually assaulted by a male partner and retaliated against. The company later settled the claim. Wigdor partner Michael Willemin represented Casucci.

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Around the Water Cooler

>> Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell was tapped by the Senate Judiciary Committee to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. [NLJ] The Arizona Republic has more here.

>> Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson said that while #MeToo has delivered cultural changes, the U.S. needs to take a closer look at its legal system. [USA Today]

>> The Ninth Circuit reversed class certification for Uber drivers, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives deference to the mandatory arbitration agreements. [The Recorder]

>> Workplace wellness benefits have been under intense scrutiny. A federal court case confronts whether wellness incentives cost privacy. [NPR]

>> A growing body of evidence suggests the gig economy is not set up to offer financial security for workers seeking the independence and flexibility the structure offers. [Associated Press]