In May 2008, it was announced with great fanfare that Larry Sonsini would be joining the board of Tesla Motors. The Valley uber-lawyer was no stranger to the board room, having served as a director for companies like Echelon, Pixar and, ahem , Brocade. He also did a bit of lawyering in those years — he took Google and Apple public, and those went well.
There was a lot less fanfare — as in, not a peep — when the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati stalwart left his big role with the headline-grabbing purveyor of electric sports cars. He quietly stepped down on Oct. 28. Since then, he has been serving as a “non-director” and outside counsel to the board, and his firm has continued to do a ton of legal work for the company. Although Tesla has had some rough spots — not getting its cars out on time, getting into embarrassing spats with former executives — it still seems like a promising bet to be on the board and get a piece of the action if Tesla goes public, right?
