Bill Savitt Has Now Beaten Elon Musk in Court Twice. Here Is Who He Is.

Two Wins, One Quiet Lawyer

Bill Savitt does not look like someone who rattles Elon Musk. The Verge's Elizabeth Lopatto, who covered Musk v. Altman from the courtroom, described Savitt's demeanor as resembling "a handsome Droopy Dog" — mild-mannered, soft-spoken, rarely raising his voice.

Musk, by contrast, complained from the witness stand that Savitt's questions were "designed to trick me" and accused him of asking "mostly unfair questions." Savitt's on-record reply: "I am trying to put the questions as fairly as I can. I am doing my best."

That exchange was reported by The Verge on June 30, 2026.

The Method

Savitt's cross-examination style in Musk v. Altman was notable for what it was not. He did not berate Musk or go for theatrical moments. His questions were largely straightforward, often simply asking Musk to restate things he had already said under direct examination minutes earlier.

For Musk, a witness who cannot remember what he told his own attorney moments before does not come across as credible. According to The Verge's Lopatto, Musk was the first witness called, and the memory lapses began establishing him as an unreliable narrator from the opening. Savitt simply asked questions and let Musk's answers do the work.

The Track Record

Savitt is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, one of the most prominent corporate law firms in the country. Legal publisher Lawdragon wrote in 2015 that "if you read the Wall Street Journal, you might as well be looking at Bill Savitt's daily calendar" — a reference to how frequently his cases were generating news.

His prior high-profile representations include Coinbase in its regulatory fight against the Securities and Exchange Commission, KKR in the Delaware case Corwin v. KKR Financial (significant in merger and acquisition law), and Sotheby's in a poison pill defense.

His history with Musk-adjacent entities is not zero. Wachtell represented Tesla in the SolarCity acquisition and the shareholder litigation that followed. But Savitt told The Verge he had no direct dealings with Musk personally until Twitter hired him.

How the Musk Run Started

When Musk tried to back out of his agreement to buy Twitter, Twitter retained Savitt. The case never went to full trial — Musk ultimately completed the acquisition — but Savitt's representation was credited with boxing Musk into closing. That was win number one.

Win number two is Musk v. Altman. Musk sued Sam Altman and OpenAI, the company Musk co-founded and later left, alleging it had abandoned its nonprofit mission by pursuing profit. The lawsuit was widely read as Musk's attempt to use litigation to slow a competitor his own xAI was racing against. The court ruled against Musk.

The Fair Counterargument

Musk's supporters would argue that the underlying concerns he raised in Musk v. Altman — whether OpenAI's shift to a for-profit structure violated the terms under which it was founded and under which early donors gave money — were legitimate governance questions, regardless of how the case ended. A lawsuit losing in court does not automatically mean the concern it raised was frivolous. Losing a case and being wrong about the underlying issue are not the same thing.

That said, Musk's own conduct on the witness stand — the memory failures, the complaints about the questions — did not help whatever legitimate argument he had.

What Comes Next

Savitt told The Verge he has not taken on any new cases opposing Musk or his enterprises since Musk v. Altman concluded. His practice has received inquiries, but he says it is hard to gauge how much of that interest flows specifically from the two Musk wins versus his broader track record.

Because Musk is appealing the jury's verdict in Musk v. Altman, the story is not fully closed. Given that Musk is involved in or adjacent to litigation across multiple fronts, the more concrete open question is whether any future defendant in a Musk-initiated lawsuit moves to retain Savitt specifically because of this track record, and whether that shapes how Musk's legal team structures future cases. Savitt has not indicated publicly that he would or would not take such cases.