Law Firms That Settled With Trump Are Pressed to Help on Trade Deals

Two of the law firms that reached deals with President Trump this year to avoid punitive executive orders were connected in recent months with the Commerce Department about working on trade deals, according to three people briefed on the matter.

The firms, Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden Arps, were connected to the department by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Boris Epshteyn, two of the people said.

Mr. Epshteyn, who does not hold a government position, played a direct role in brokering the initial deals between Mr. Trump and the law firms, in which the firms agreed to do pro bono work on causes the president has championed, like helping veterans, military families and first responders.

After Mr. Epshteyn helped connect the firms with the government in recent months, Kirkland and Ellis went on to work on the trade deals the administration struck with Japan and South Korea, which were announced in July, according to three of the people. It is unclear if Skadden Arps has done work for the administration.

Earlier this year, after the law firms struck deals with Mr. Trump, the president said that he had a broader understanding of the terms than the firms had let on, saying the pro bono work included helping the administration on trade deals and could even be applied to representing him in a personal capacity.

It’s unclear whether Kirkland & Ellis did the work for free or charged the Commerce Department. But the revelation of the firm’s work marks the first time that it has been publicly revealed that one of the firms that cut a deal with Mr. Trump is now doing work for the administration.

Representatives of Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden Arps did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

When asked for comment, Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, did not directly address the latest developments. Instead, he said, Mr. Trump “has radically changed the business of discrimination, including by ending D.E.I. in Big Law.”

He added: “Law firms that have for years propelled one-sided justice by providing pro bono resources to those causes that make our nation more dangerous and less free have started serving their nation.”

Benno Kass, the director of public affairs for the Commerce Department, said the agency and the secretary, Howard Lutnick, “are working with some of America’s top law firms and legal minds to cement the truly historic trade deals that President Trump negotiated for the American people.” He did not specify which firms or what work they were doing.

Mr. Epshteyn would not provide comment.

Nine firms reached deals with Mr. Trump to head off executive orders. In total, the firms pledged nearly a billion dollars in pro bono legal work. At least some of the other firms are said to have been connected with the administration to do work for the government, but it’s unclear which firms or what issues they were discussing working on.

None of the firms have acknowledged any wrongdoing. They were targeted with punitive executive orders or implicit threats for representing or aiding Mr. Trump’s political foes or employing people he sees as having used the legal system to come after him.

The deals have been criticized by many in the legal community as unconstitutional and undemocratic, and have led to splits inside some of the firms about the wisdom of agreeing to terms with the White House.