Tesla Lawyers Get Top Legal Roles Elsewhere as Churn Continues

Two former lawyers at Tesla Inc. are the most recent alumni from the electric automaker to take lead legal roles at new companies.

David Misler, an associate general counsel who led Tesla’s commercial litigation and regulatory enforcement team, was named general counsel and corporate secretary for BusPatrol America LLC. Misler spent less than three years with Tesla after joining from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Emily Lough, Tesla’s former chief intellectual property counsel, as of July 15 was named general counsel for semiconductor equipment maker Cohu Inc. Lough left Tesla in late 2023 to join Cohu as an assistant general counsel.

Lough and Misler didn’t respond to requests for comment. Misler in a recent LinkedIn post last week said he recently left Tesla to “explore new challenges.”

Tesla has watched several former in-house lawyers land top legal jobs at other companies—from startups to more established enterprises—in recent years.

Musk, a demanding boss known for cycling through various law department leaders at Tesla, has presided over a restive few months at the company.

The mogul sought shareholder approval for his $56 billion pay package and quarreled with a retired law professor who until recently was employed by Holland & Knight. During that time Tesla has also parted ways with several senior executives as the company shed more than 10% of its workforce.

New Recruits

Tesla currently has a handful of legal and government affairs openings listed on its online jobs board. The company has since mid-2022 been busy adding to a “hardcore” in-house litigation team that Musk has touted publicly.

“Apply online and see if you qualify for a team that handles cutting-edge and sophisticated legal work itself with no conflicts,” Brandon Ehrhart, Tesla’s general counsel, wrote in a LinkedIn post last year seeking new legal recruits.

Tesla has brought on at least a dozen new lawyers so far this year, according to an analysis of state bar registries, LinkedIn profiles, and other public records. Many of those additions were previously in private practice at firms such Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith; Holland & Hart; Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani; and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Misler said via LinkedIn that as a parent he’s excited to lead the legal team at BusPatrol. The Lorton, Va.-based outfit said it uses artificial intelligence technology to enhance its stop-arm safety cameras on school buses. BusPatrol is working with Nixon Peabody and other government officials to expand its operations, according to a Newsday report.

Misler succeeds former general counsel Todd Bromberg, an ex-Wiley Rein partner who left in January. That same month BusPatrol, represented by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Canada’s Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, secured an investment from middle-market private equity firm GI Partners, advised by Ropes & Gray. Bromberg didn’t return a comment request.

Lough takes over at Cohu for Thomas Kampfer, its former general counsel and corporate development executive. Kampfer received almost $1.4 million in total compensation last year, per the company’s most recent proxy statement.