The Priori Digest #204: Elon & Twitter, All the Antitrust News, & an Air Purifier You Wear on Your Head

In this edition of the Priori Digest, we look at the news and analysis over Elon Musk’s becoming Twitter’s single largest shareholder, antitrust developments affecting corporate self-reporting and the tech and antitrust policy debates, and Dyson’s air-purifying, noise-canceling headphones that can help you block out the world on the go.

?Warmly,

Basha Rubin | CEO & Co-Founder

Priori News

• ICYMI, a recording of our webinar,?“Negotiating with Goliath: How Startup GCs Can Navigate Power Differentials in Contracting,”?is now available. Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Mirra Levitt talked about navigating power gaps with legal leaders from Crossbeam, Seismic and Snappy. Get the video?here.
• The Priori team will be at CLOC’s Global Legal Operations Institute in May! Get in touch?here?to connect with us at CLOC.
• Know someone looking for a new legal tech job in the new year? We’d love to meet them; Priori is hiring across all functions. All of our open roles, from engineering to marketing to product, are posted on?our AngelList page.

Legal

• The DOJ announced that it’s?tightening rules for self-reporting of potential violations of criminal antitrust laws?in an update to the leniency rules affecting corporations and their advisors ($). Jonathan Kanter, head of the DOJ’s antitrust division, also?told a group of international enforcers to anticipate more lawsuits, including under provisions banning interlocking boards, per Protocol reporting.
• In antitrust & tech: competition advocates declared April 4 “Antitrust Day,” pushing for Congress to pass two bills aimed at Big Tech, while tech companies and their allies tried to?convince lawmakers that the antitrust proposals are bad for consumers.
• Kentucky sheriff’s deputies, judges, lawyers and lawmakers are?opposing a state law that would allow lawyers to carry concealed weapons into the courtroom.

Tech

• Elon Musk?became the largest shareholder in Twitter this week; he now holds a 9.2% passive stake in the social media company. Twitter shares were up 20% immediately following the announcement. Some?analysis on why Musk may be bad for Twitter’s business
• Washington State joined Colorado in?passing a law requiring companies to disclose salary ranges, with potential wide-ranging effects on tech companies aiming to land talent.
• The metaverse?requires infrastructure that we don’t have yet.
• Tech etiquette:?If someone is typing and then stops, is it rude to ask why?
• Dyson’s?air-purifying, noise-canceling headphones

Legal Trivia?(answers at the end)

1. US News released the latest law school rankings. Which law school moved up from no. 4 to no. 3 on the list?
2. Which senator’s flight troubles caused a delay of several hours to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s committee vote this week?
3. How much was Elon Musk’s 2018 fraud settlement with the SEC?

Legal quote of the week

“The results of our research may come as a wake-up call to legal department bosses, many of whom saw their teams remain in the office throughout the pandemic. Like most sectors, there is now a real appetite among in-house lawyers in the U.S. to be able to work from home for good.”?

-Mark Rhodes, Managing Director of ContractWorks,?speaking to Law.com about the company’s survey that found many in-house attorneys are being forced to go back to the office full-time due to deficient tech

By the numbers

$16.9 million

Twitter legal chief Vijaya Gadde’s?total compensation in 2021, up 130% over 2020.

$2.1 million

An increase in technology transactions?propelled Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman past $2 million in profits per partner for the first time?($).?

Trivia answers

1. The University of Chicago Law School
2. Senator Alejandro Padilla
3. $20 million for Musk personally and $20 million for Tesla, or $40 million.