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What Elon Musk is doing is strong-arming a law firm because he can. He’s a very wealthy, valuable client and he’s pissed off at this SEC guy, and he wants to get him fired. If someone presented that to me, I’d say, “Elon Musk, stick your head in the Tesla car and drive away.”

— Abe Reich, chairman emeritus of Fox Rothschild, commenting in an interview on the “ultimatum” Elon Musk gave to Cooley LLP to fire an associate who had previously interviewed the Tesla executive during an SEC investigation. Cooley stood by its associate, and Musk retaliated by withdrawing representation in several matters from the firm.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Biglaw, Cooley, Elon Musk, Quote of the Day, Tesla