The team selected by Trump includes lawyers with DoJ and congressional ties from both Kirkland & Ellis and Jones Day. Most notable among the recruits is Kirkland & Ellis litigation and white-collar defence partner Brian Benczkowski, who previously served at head of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican staff before joining the firm. During that tenure he worked under Republican senator Jeff Sessions, who has recently been flagged as Trump’s pick for Attorney General. Joining Mr Benczkowski for the transition will be Jones Day partner Gregory Katsas and associate James Burnham. Mr Katsas is the former head of the Civil Division and once served as acting Associate Attorney General.

Internal purge

The appointments come following the sudden departure of Point72 general counsel Kevin O’Connor from the helm of the DoJ transition team. Mr O’Connor, who heads the legal function at the firm of controversial investment kingpin Steve Cohen, was appointed last week to oversee staff picks for the DoJ. However, his departure reportedly comes as the result of an internal effort to purge Trump’s transition team of all except those who have demonstrated steadfast loyalty to Trump throughout his campaign for the presidency. Mr O’Connor was a donor to the presidential bid of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and served alongside him as a US attorney between 2002 and 2008.

Sources: The National Law Journal; Bloomberg