Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced via Twitter that Tesla “is building a hardcore litigation department where we directly initiate & execute lawsuits.” The lawyers will report directly to him. Said Musk, “Looking for hardcore streetfighters, not white-shoe lawyers like Perkins or Cooley who thrive on corruption.”
Musk is soliciting responses from lawyers. Those interested should send him 3 to 5 bullet points about how they qualify presumably as streetfighters. Musk’s finally shot: “We will never seek victory in a just cause against us, even if we will probably win. We will never surrender/settle an unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.”
Some of the best trial lawyers I know are in small to mid-size firms
If what he is doing is trying to find really good trial lawyers, and he thinks the best trial lawyers aren’t necessarily in big law firms, then he has a point. Some of the best trial lawyers I know are in small to mid-size firms. These are the kind of lawyers that try lots of cases and have years of experience doing so. Yes, some big firm lawyers fit this bill, but many do not since the kinds of cases big firms handle often don’t go to trial due to cost and risk.
But I’m not sure this is what Musk is really doing. In my experience, clients that want “streetfighters” often don’t necessarily