Trump

During a raucous news conference that was unusually heavy with tax law theory, Donald Trump and Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Sheri Dillon outlined how the president-elect plans to distance himself from his companies.

The US law firm will help Trump move his business assets to a trust, shift company leadership to his two adult sons and a third corporate executive, and add both a management-level ethics adviser and a chief compliance officer to the company.

Dillon also said that Trump's companies, known collectively as the Trump Organization, would make no new foreign deals during his time in office.

"He directed me and my colleagues at Morgan Lewis to design a structure for his business empire that would completely isolate him from the management of the company," Dillon said. "He instructed us to take all steps realistically possible to make it clear that he is not exploiting the office of the presidency for his personal benefit."

Dillon provided reasons why Trump would not divest from his companies, as many critics have suggested he must. A sale even to Trump's children could create further financial and ethical complications, because his children would need to find lenders for the purchase, she said. A sale of the Trump brand to a third party would mean the president would continue to earn royalties.

"President Trump can't un-know he owns Trump Tower," she said.

The Morgan Lewis tax lawyer further highlighted the firm's work for Trump. She introduced Fred Fielding, a former White House counsel and Wiley Rein name partner-turned Morgan Lewis lawyer, as a key part of the legal team.

Aside from Fielding, Morgan Lewis's tax department is well known because of its acquisition of Bingham McCutchen lawyers in 2014, including many who had come from tax boutique McKee Nelson five years earlier. The firm has handled tax work for Trump and the Trump Organization since 2005.

After the Bingham acquisition, Morgan Lewis became the fourth-largest law firm in Washington DC.

Dillon compared Trump's business interests to those of magnate Nelson Rockefeller, the vice-president under President Gerald Ford. "But at that time, no one was so concerned," she said.

Dillon also spoke about the conflicts of interest statute and the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts. Regarding conflicts, Trump's decision to distance himself is voluntary and not required by Congress, she said. And, she added, "Trump will donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotels to the United States Treasury."

During the conference, Trump also noted that he would make a decision on a US Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat vacated by the late Justice Antonin Scalia within two weeks following his inauguration.