Meet William Savitt, Sam Altman’s Lawyer Who Beat Elon Musk Before

When Sam Altman needed someone to beat Elon Musk in court, he hired a lawyer who had done it once before: William Savitt.

Savitt was a natural choice to take the case. For decades, he’d occupied the upper echelons of corporate litigation. He represented Twitter in 2022, suing Musk to force him to go through with his purchase of the platform. His law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, worked on the complex restructuring of OpenAI’s for-profit arm.

Savitt is now leading Altman’s and OpenAI’s legal team in a blockbuster trial currently unfolding in an Oakland federal courtroom.

Musk alleges Altman scammed him by transforming OpenAI into a corporate behemoth rather than the nonprofit the Tesla CEO originally supported. Savitt’s challenge is to show the jury that Musk’s real goal is to dismantle OpenAI in an attempt to boost xAI, his own artificial intelligence company.

Though he’s the leading litigator at the top law firm in the country and has represented clients like Brad Pitt, Savitt has a relatively low public profile. The trial between Silicon Valley giants has given him his first real turn in the global spotlight.

Mild-mannered, composed, and courteous, Savitt strikes the figure of a highly competent corporate litigator. One might never guess he spent his youth driving a cab and playing in rock bands before clerking for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Like many lawyers, he tries to resolve his clients’ disputes quietly. But if the battle reaches the spotlight of a courtroom, he relishes the litigation process.

During a tense cross-examination, when Musk said he didn’t read a document about OpenAI’s organization and complained about “going into the fine print,” Savitt wouldn’t let him go.

“It’s a four-page document, isn’t it, Mr. Musk?” Savitt deadpanned.

Musk and Altman each have a history with Savitt

Wachtell itself has been engaged in a multiyear beef with Musk since 2022, when it helped Twitter sue Musk for trying to pull out of a deal to buy the social media company.

Savitt led the charge. He quickly won a series of crucial court rulings. Facing an almost-certain defeat at trial, Musk agreed to buy Twitter at the previously agreed-upon share price shortly before it was set to begin.

Musk reacted in fury when he discovered Twitter paid Wachtell $90 million in legal fees. The company sued Wachtell for a refund in a case with Musk, accusing the lawyers of “institutionalized corruption” on Twitter, which he’s renamed X. The case went to arbitration and was resolved confidentially.

Savitt’s relationship with Altman predates Musk’s 2024 lawsuit against the OpenAI CEO.

Altman engaged with Wachtell during his brief ouster from the board in November 2023. Savitt told Business Insider in an interview before the trial that he worked with OpenAI on “various matters” earlier that year that he said “remain confidential,” declining to comment further. (“bill is awesome!” Altman told Business Insider in an email, also declining to comment further.)

Later, Wachtell’s corporate transaction side worked with OpenAI on acquisitions and fundraising, and is reportedly assisting with its preparations for an initial public offering.

When OpenAI transformed its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation — a change that Musk wants the judge to reverse — Wachtell lawyers helped with the complex legal mechanics of the restructuring. Savitt received clearance from the attorneys general of California and Delaware to make the transition happen.

“It’s very cool to be a part of something that is world-changing,” Savitt said of OpenAI. “It’s motivating to be part of a team that is working to create the best products, but is also working to create the best world.”

From cab driver to SCOTUS clerk

Well before Savitt climbed the ranks at Wachtell, or even attended Columbia Law School, he was a young man with a guitar, slumming it.

He spent his 20s in the late ’80s and early ’90s in a series of bands, playing in CBGBs and touring in Philadelphia and Baltimore. To pay the bills, the Philadelphia native and Brown University graduate drove a cab, fact-checked for National Geographic and the Smithsonian magazines, and freelanced for obscure business trade publications.

“We played a lot of the really cool venues in New York, did a little bit of touring, and ultimately never got a record deal, but it was great,” Savitt told Business Insider. “I got to sit on stage and sing and play my songs.”

In 1990, Savitt took the path of many 20-somethings not sure what to do with their lives: he went to graduate school. Savitt attended Columbia University, studying the history of France’s jury system, and later enrolled at its law school.

After law school, Savitt clerked for Judge Pierre Leval on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. Leval — who took senior status in 2002 and remains on the bench — lavished praise on Savitt in an interview as a “brilliant” lawyer. Leval recalled a case from the clerkship where the two were at odds. It involved a domestic worker who sued her employer after falling off a ladder. Savitt supported the employee. Leval ruled in favor of the employer.

“I don’t remember much about it except that Bill persistently disagreed with me and long after would remind me about how I got the latter case all wrong,” Leval said.

The two, decades later, still laugh about it.

“If there’s a principle of law or a point of fact that I think is about to be wrongly decided, I’ll fight as hard as I can and as long as I can,” Savitt said.

For his next act, Savitt landed in Justice Ginsburg’s chambers, clerking for her between 1998 and 1999. He said the Supreme Court term was “relatively collegial” despite the philosophical differences on the bench.

“Justice Ginsburg had a remarkable capacity to reserve judgment, to keep an open mind,” Savitt said. “And that’s another skill that I try to mimic — because it allows the lawyer no less than the judge to spot weaknesses and opportunities as the facts and the arguments build throughout a case or negotiation.”

The view from the top

With a Supreme Court clerkship on your resume, the legal world becomes your proverbial oyster. Savitt wanted to be in New York and at the top.

Even among elite law firms, Wachtell is at the pinnacle. The firm regularly ranks as the most profitable per attorney. Last year, it made $5.09 million per lawyer, almost double the second-place firm, according to The American Lawyer, a trade publication. The firm also remains relatively small. It has only about 260 lawyers, compared to about 1,500 at Paul Weiss and 1,700 at Skadden Arps, two other prominent Wall Street firms.

In his 30-year Wachtell career, Savitt has defended Dell’s transition to a private company, defended Sotheby’s against an activist investor attack, fended off challenges to numerous mergers and acquisitions of Wachtell clients, and represents Brad Pitt in a still-ongoing dispute with Angelina Jolie over a French winery.

Savitt’s expertise extends to the finer points of corporate law — particularly in Delaware, where most public companies choose to incorporate. The Delaware Chancery Court, which Musk has railed against, has become the venue for sophisticated business disputes that are decided by expert chancellor judges rather than juries. (Savitt “knows the law of Delaware like the back of his hand,” Leval told BI.)

Delaware’s governor hired Savitt personally to represent the state in a lawsuit brought by stockholders who challenged a new law about about corporate transactions. In March, Delaware’s top court sided with Savitt and upheld the law’s constitutionality.

On one occasion, Savitt represented Tesla’s board, including Musk, in a lawsuit from shareholders who said the carmaker overpaid for its acquisition of SolarCity. A Delaware Chancery Court judge cleared Musk of wrongdoing in that case. (Savitt declined to comment for this story on any ongoing or past litigation.)

While working through tough cases, Savitt sometimes strums on the guitars he keeps in his office and mixes songs on his 4-track recording device.

“I still haven’t given up on the record yet,” he said.

Katherine Li contributed reporting.