(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
One of the unexpected perks of the 2023 hellscape has been watching — in real time — why you shouldn’t let personal grudges dictate how you run your business. Unless you just enjoy setting $44 billion on fire (in which case I can think of way better ways to spend the cash, but I digress). But you know, Elon Musk’s id is still in charge of Twitter, firing engineers who have the gall to tell him he’s not as interesting as *he* thinks he is, and taking over everyone’s timeline with his brain farts.
Musk takes this attitude to Twitter’s legal hiring too. Last month, an appearance by Perkins Coie on behalf of Twitter made headlines. The Biglaw firm’s work for the social media company predates Musk’s takeover, but Perkins Coie is also on Musk’s personal shitlist, so cue the controversy.
Back in December, Musk took aim at the Biglaw firm, and one of its partners, Michael Sussmann. He ranted that he “isn’t using Perkins Coie” as outside counsel and urged others to join him in his boycott of the firm, saying, “No company should use them until they make amends for Sussmann’s attempt to corrupt a Presidential election.” Sussmann was predictably acquitted on charges he misled the FBI’s general counsel when talking to them about evidence linking the Trump Organization and a Russian-based bank, because he didn’t mention he also worked for the Clinton campaign.
When confronted about the representation, Musk said he was going to let bygones be bygones and move forward with the experienced litigation team. HAHAHAHA. No, that’s not at all what he did. He started pointing fingers, saying, it was “an error on the part of a member of the Twitter team.” And, “Perkins will not be representing Twitter on future cases.”
But Perkins Coie is out even on the case that caused all the hubbub. As reported by Reuters:
Lawyers from Seattle-founded Perkins Coie told a federal judge in California on Friday that another firm will take over representation of Twitter and its former CEO Jack Dorsey in the case, a civil RICO lawsuit filed by a far-right activist who was previously banned from the social media platform.
Replacing Perkins Coie is another Biglaw firm, Willkie Farr. That is, for as long as they stay on Musk’s good side.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
