OpenAI hired the lawyer who helped force Elon Musk to buy Twitter

OpenAI brought in some heavy hitters.

Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

• OpenAI has hired high-profile attorneys to fight Elon Musk's lawsuit.
• The firm battling Musk previously helped Twitter in a legal conflict with the billionaire.
• Musk's lawsuit alleges OpenAI breached its 'founding agreement.'

OpenAI is bringing in some heavy hitters in its legal battle with Elon Musk.

The billionaire is set to face off again with a lawyer who helped Twitter sue Musk after he attempted to back out of the $44 billion purchase. Reuters was the first to report on the correlation.

A recent filing from OpenAI shows the company hired two attorneys from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to represent OpenAI and additional lawyers from Morrison & Foerster to represent its other defendants, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

One of the lawyers from the Wachtell firm, William Savitt, helped lead Twitter's case against Musk.

Musk was forced to settle before the lawsuit got to trial, and he ultimately bought Twitter at his original offer price — but not before the dozens of Musk's private text messages made it into the public eye through discovery.

Musk also sued the Wachtell firm last year in an attempt to avoid paying $90 million in legal fees that the organization had accrued in its battle against Musk.

The law firm was one of several companies Musk allegedly tried to stiff after he took Twitter private.

Meanwhile, the two Morrison & Foerster attorneys that OpenAI brought in — Jordan Eth and Ragesh Tangri — had helped represent Wachtell in Musk's lawsuit against the firm in 2023. The case went into private arbitration in October.

Musk has his own formidable lineup of attorneys as well. The billionaire is represented by Morgan Chu, Alan Heinrich, and Iian Jablon of Irell & Manella.

Chu was once called the firm's "$5 billion man" due to his history of securing wins for his clients, Bloomberg previously reported. The Irell firm has also worked with Tesla in the past.

Musk sued OpenAI and some of its cofounders earlier this year, alleging the company had breached its "founding agreement" and was at risk of violating its nonprofit mission of benefiting humanity through its partnership with Microsoft.

Legal experts previously told BI that the case isn't strong but the lawsuit could still be a headache for OpenAI if it drags out in court.

Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015 and has said he invested tens of millions of dollars into the AI venture. He walked away from the company's board in 2018, citing a potential conflict of interest due to Tesla's AI efforts.

Over the years, Musk has repeatedly criticized OpenAI and Altman. The company clapped back at Musk in a legal filing that was made public on Monday, calling the billionaire's suit "frivolous" and "incoherent." Earlier this month, OpenAI also published what appeared to be some emails between Musk and its founders.

Representatives for Musk and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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