Law Firms With Trump Deals Probed by Democrats on Commerce Work

Democrats in Congress want more information on three major law firms’ possible work for the Commerce Department after making deals with the White House to evade executive orders.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Wednesday sent letters to Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis, and Skadden, requesting information about their lawyers’ work for the department. The firms are among a group of nine that pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services on causes shared with President Donald Trump’s administration in a series of agreements beginning in March.

The lawmakers cited an Aug. 20 New York Times report that Paul Weiss and Kirkland are doing free legal work for the department, which has taken an active role in tariff negotiations and recently steered the US’ purchase of a 10% stake in Intel Corp. Skadden, which advised Intel on the $8.9 billion deal, also was approached to do work for the department, according to the report.

The work “clearly falls outside of the scope of the deal you previously described—aiding veterans, combating anti-Semitism, and promoting fairness in the justice system—suggesting that the Administration’s coercion of your law firm may be ongoing and escalating,” the lawmakers said in the letters. It doesn’t likely qualify as “pro bono,” they said, and could violate federal law that generally prohibits the government from accepting voluntary services.

The firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Absent coercion from the Administration it is difficult to understand how Paul Weiss identified the Commerce Department—a government agency with 13 bureaus, a proposed $8.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2026 discretionary funding—as eligible for pro bono services,” the lawmakers said. “While it certainly would not be surprising for the Trump Administration to disregard the law regarding congressional appropriations, it would be quite troubling if Paul Weiss were a willing accomplice in such an endeavor,” the said in a letter to Brad Karp, the firm’s leader.

The lawmakers gave the firms an Oct. 6 deadline to provide details on the arrangements of their work for the administration. Democrats, as the minority party in both chambers, do not have the power to subpoena the information.

Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Blumenthal have slammed the “shakedown” deals between Trump and the law firms. The agreements came after Trump issued executive orders targeting Paul Weiss and other firms over their ties to the president’s perceived enemies. The White House rescinded the order against Paul Weiss—blocking access to federal buildings and threatening clients’ government contracts—after it pledged $40 million in free legal services. Judges have struck down the orders against four other firms as unconstitutional.

Raskin and Blumenthal also accused the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s leader of using her position to facilitate deals between Big Law firms and Trump. Many firms made agreements that also settled EEOC probes into their diversity programs.