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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

CLOSING IN -  Remember when we told you not to fall for the Big Four's recent claims about not competing with traditional law firms? This is why: As Law.com's Bruce Love and Dan Packel report, Big Four accounting firm EY is considering spinning off its global audit business, a move that seems to be aimed at dodging the increasing regulatory scrutiny that audit businesses appear to be facing while also solving the conflict of interest barriers that EY faces in providing legal services. The development should sound a warning bell to law firms, according to industry observers, some of whom speculate that, if EY succeeds in jumping through the substantial hurdles necessary to separate the units, its Big Four peers will follow. James Jones, a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center, said accounting firms with audit businesses currently face a genuine constraint in moving seriously to legal because they cannot provide legal services for corporations that they audit. "I think [EY's spinout] removes that. It's very smart on their part," Jones said.

PAY-AT-HOME - Several Am Law 200 firms are paying fully remote lawyers on the same scale as lawyers working in physical offices, according to interviews with firms and legal industry observers. That's because competition for top talent is still intense between firms, allowing remote lawyers with in-demand skills or books of business to have leverage in setting pay. Of course, just because something seems to make good sense, doesn't mean it will last. According to a recent Aon survey of 30 Am Law 200 firms, 57% said they were actively recruiting "fully virtual" lawyers and business professionals, while another 18% were considering hiring fully remote workers. However, 26% said they didn't know what compensation would be for these roles, and another 35% said compensation would be determined on a case-by-case basis. Analysts told Law.com's Andrew Maloney that, while there may not be a strong consensus yet, the trend has been to pay both groups of employees the same or nearly the same. And for now, at least, law firms should think twice about discounting fully virtual hires, as the market for talent remains red-hot, said Marcie Borgal Shunk, who advises law firms as president and founder of The Tilt Institute. "I don't know that the price tag on a chief operating officer or lateral partner goes down when they're going to be living in a different geography," she said, adding that it's "hard to believe that will be a sustainable strategy."

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Sidley Austin and Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard have stepped in to defend Intercontinental Capital Group in a pending lawsuit brought on behalf of more than 40 former employees challenging the enforceability of employment agreements. The suit was filed April 6 in North Carolina Western District Court by Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete and Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders on behalf of the defendants' former workers and Movement Mortgage, which now employs the individual plaintiffs. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., is 3:22-cv-00147, Movement Mortgage LLC et al v. Intercontinental Capital Group, Inc.  >> Read the filing on Law.com Radar   and check out the most recent edition of Law.com's Who Got the Work?℠ column to find out which law firms and lawyers are being brought in to handle key cases and close major deals for their clients.