In a legal twist worthy of a Harvard case study, the Ivy League titan has brought in the legal muscle of Quinn Emanuel—the go-to firm for Elon Musk and, often enough, Donald Trump himself—to challenge a Trump administration freeze on $2.3 billion in federal research funding.
The irony is thick: Harvard, accused by the White House of fostering antisemitism during recent pro-Palestinian campus protests, is now leaning on lawyers deeply embedded in Trump’s own orbit. William Burck of Quinn Emanuel and Robert Hur of King & Spalding, both with long GOP résumés, signed off on a defiant letter Monday rejecting demands from the administration to rewrite the university’s curriculum. “Harvard will not surrender its independence,” they wrote.
The law firm lineup is an unlikely alliance, but hardly out of character for Quinn Emanuel, a 1,000-lawyer powerhouse known less for ideology and more for picking strategic sides—sometimes both sides—when the stakes are high.
“If our client needs us on Trump’s side, we’ll be there. If they need us against him, same deal,” said a source familiar with the firm’s Harvard representation.
Quinn Emanuel has long represented Elon Musk—who has donated a quarter billion dollars to Trump’s campaign and lent his megaphone to the president on X. Musk is now helping steer the administration’s push to gut the federal bureaucracy.
Yet at the same time, Quinn Emanuel is fighting Trump in the Supreme Court—representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant challenging his deportation. The case has drawn sharp warnings from a Washington judge who accused the government of stalling and ordered officials to come clean about their attempts to deport Garcia.
While Harvard is paying top dollar for Quinn Emanuel’s firepower—its top lawyers can bill as much as $3,000 an hour—the firm is representing Garcia for free.
Harvard’s hiring spree signals just how high the stakes are—and how unconventional the battle lines have become. Trump lashed out on Truth Social, branding Harvard “a JOKE” and declaring it “no longer even a decent place of learning.”
Burck, a former George W. Bush White House lawyer, is no stranger to Trumpworld, having represented Steve Bannon and advised the Trump Organization on ethics issues. Just last month, he helped broker a peace deal between Trump and a rival firm targeted by executive order.
Trump has blacklisted six firms so far over their associations with perceived enemies. Quinn Emanuel and King & Spalding have managed to stay off that list—for now.
As for Hur, he was nominated by Trump in 2017 to serve as U.S. attorney in Maryland. Years later, he was tapped as special counsel to probe Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents—a probe that ended with Hur declining to press charges.
Legal experts say the modern megafirm has become less about partisan purity and more about courtroom versatility.
“Client selection isn’t political—it’s practical,” said Kevin Burke, a law professor and former big-firm leader. “A firm like Quinn Emanuel isn’t brought in for symbolism. They’re brought in to win.”
