As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Cooley LLP declined Tesla owner Elon Musk’s recent demand for the major law firm to terminate one of its associates, who is an ex-SEC attorney. As with all former government-employed attorneys, Model Rule 1.11: Special Conflicts of Interest for Former & Current Government Officers & Employees applies to the former SEC employee. In accordance with the Rule, the associate would not have performed any work for Musk because the associate had played a role in the 2018 SEC investigation of a tweet regarding Musk's plan to take Tesla private. Nevertheless, Musk offered Cooley an ultimatum: fire the attorney or lose his business. Cooley rejected Musk's demand, and Musk has begun to move business to other firms.