CEO Elon Musk Claims Twitter’s ‘Error’ Prompted Perkins Coie’s Hiring

(CTN NEWS) – Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, stated in an email to Reuters on Friday, January 6, that Twitter will learn from its mistake in selecting the legal team of Perkins Coie to represent the company in a federal lawsuit in California this week.

Even though Musk has criticized the company on social media, including in a tweet last month related to its prior work for former Democratic US presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Perkins Coie attorneys entered court appearances for Twitter in the case on Wednesday, according to a previous report from Reuters.

In Elon Musk’s email, he said that a Twitter team member made a mistake by selecting Perkins Coie.

Elon Musk said in an email to Reuters on Friday that hiring law firm Perkins Coie to defend Twitter in a California federal lawsuit this week was a mistake that the company would not make again.

Read The Afternoon Docket https://t.co/5lqIEgw3Qc

Subscribe https://t.co/pneEbvCKVn pic.twitter.com/b2YvGpta07

— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) January 6, 2023

Perkins won’t represent Twitter in any further legal battles, he declared.

Follow-up inquiries on Friday went unanswered, including whether Perkins Coie will continue to represent Twitter in at least six other disputes that date back to before Musk acquired the company.

Requests for a response from a Perkins Coie spokeswoman were not immediately entertained.

Musk is blaming others after months of internal strife over Twitter’s legal goals and hiring after he bought the company for US$44 billion and became CEO in October.

As he works to correct what he has characterized as prior censorship and partisan prejudice at the firm, Elon Musk has removed senior staffers, including Vijaya Gadde, who served as Twitter’s legal affairs and policy officer.

In various instances, lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan have filled in for other firms on Twitter’s outside legal teams.

On December 8, Musk advised other businesses to shun Perkins Coie and stated that Twitter “isn’t utilizing Perkins Coie” as outside counsel.

He specifically mentioned Michael Sussmann, a former Perkins Coie attorney who assisted Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

Sussmann was exonerated in May after contesting federal accusations that he misled the FBI about his involvement in the Clinton campaign when he provided the bureau with alleged proof of cyber ties between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank.

Elon Musk stated in December, referring to Perkins Coie, “No company should utilize them until they make apologies for Sussmann’s attempt to rig a Presidential election.”

Elon Musk said in a tweet from May that “white-shoe lawyers” at Perkins Coie and another big legal firm “thrive on corruption.”

Laura Loomer, a far-right activist barred from Twitter in 2018, filed the lawsuit that Perkins Coie joined this week on behalf of the social media platform.

In a case filed in San Francisco, it is alleged that major social media companies, businesses, and the US government collaborated to “illegally restrict conservative viewpoints and meddle in American elections.”

Twitter and its former CEO, Jack Dorsey, have denied the accusations.

RELATED CTN NEWS:

Car Bluetooth Isn’t Working On Pixels With January’s Security Patch