Elon Musk says Twitter's decision to hire a law firm that he'd previously criticized and boycotted was the result of an employee 'error'

Elon Musk told Reuters an employee "error" is the reason Twitter hired a law firm he has publicly criticized and boycotted. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

• Twitter hired a law firm that CEO Elon Musk publicly criticized last month and said "thrives on corruption."
• Musk told Reuters on Friday that hiring law firm Perkins Coie was "an error on the part of a member of the Twitter team."
• He added that the firm "will not be representing Twitter on future cases."

Twitter recently hired a law firm Elon Musk dislikes to represent the company in a lawsuit, and Musk has since offered an explanation for the confusing situation.

Musk told Reuters on Friday that Twitter's hiring of Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie was "an error on the part of a member of the Twitter team."

"Perkins will not be representing Twitter on future cases," he said in an email to the news outlet.

The lawsuit at hand was brought by far-right activist Laura Loomer against Twitter and co-founder Jack Dorsey. A self-described "proud Islamophobe," Loomer was booted from the platform in 2018 over "hateful" content after she called Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar "anti Jewish" and said Omar's Muslim faith supported homophobia and the abuse of women.

Musk has publicly denounced Perkins Coie on multiple occasions.

In May, when he announced he was building a litigation department at Tesla, he tweeted he was not looking for "white-shoe lawyers like Perkins...who thrive on corruption."

Last month, Musk said Twitter wasn't using the law firm and that "no company should use them until they make amends for Sussman's attempt to corrupt a Presidential election."

Musk was referring to Michael Sussmann, a former Perkins Coie lawyer and onetime lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign, who was accused of lying to the FBI in a meeting about former president Donald Trump's links to Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Sussmann was found not guilty in May.

Perkins Coie is listed as counsel for Twitter in at least six other lawsuits that predate Musk's purchase of the social media site, according to Reuters. Musk didn't immediately respond when asked if Perkins Coie would continue to represent Twitter in those cases, Reuters said.