That America’s oldest and most prestigious university would retain high calibre legal counsel in its confrontation with the Trump administration came as a surprise to nobody.

But the two individuals who agreed to spearhead its fight, after losing $2.3 billion in federal funding, have raised some eyebrows.

The lawyers – who signed and co-wrote the punchy legal response informing the president the university would not be complying with his demands – are William Burck and Robert Hur – both of whom are well known, and connected in Republican circles.

The administration had put pressure on Harvard to change its hiring, admissions and other internal procedures, which would include reporting foreign students accused of conduct violations.

On Monday, after Mr Hur and Mr Burck issued their response accusing the US president of trying to “invade university freedoms”, Mr Trump suspended federal funds before threatening to revoke the institution’s tax-exempt status.

Mr Hur was appointed by Mr Trump himself to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, while Mr Burck worked under George W Bush and gave legal advice to several of Mr Trump’s closest allies in the Russia-gate scandal.

The son of South Korean immigrants, Mr Hur was born in New York City and went on to study at Harvard, before reading for a masters degree in philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge.

He earned his law degree at Stanford, and is currently in private practice at international firm King and Spalding, where he is a partner in its “special matters and government investigations” practice.