Tesla's General Counsel is out after just 2 months

Williams & Connelly

Dane Butswinkas

• After just 2 months as Tesla's top lawyer, Dane Butswinkas will return to Williams & Connely full time, according to the WSJ.
• Butswinkas said he would continue to work for Tesla outside the company.
• Jonathan Chang, who has been at Tesla nearly eight years, will replace Butswinkas.
• Just last week Tesla's VP of global recruitment also left the company, another in a year-long string of departures.

Tesla's General Counsel has stepped down after just two months with the company, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Dane Butswinkas joined the electric car maker in December. He will return to Washington to work for Williams & Connelly, and told the WSJ that he will continue to work for Tesla as outside counsel.

Butswinkas will be replaced by Jonathan Chang, an attorney who has spent almost eight years at Tesla. He was reportedly instrumental in negotiating Tesla's repayment of government loans back in 2013. He also worked on Tesla's controversial merger with SolarCity.

Tesla is currently under investigation by both the SEC and the Justice Department. Both agencies are investigating whether or not Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk mislead investors and the public about the company's production numbers.

Butswinkas is yet another name to add to a long list of executive departures from the company over the last year. Tesla's VP of global recruitment left last week. Last month, the company announced that its CFO would step down for a second time. In September, Tesla's accounting chief, Dave Morton, left the company after only a few weeks, citing the intense pressure and scrutiny of the company.

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