Tesla general counsel Dane Butswinkas has left the company after a short tenure of two months to be replaced by Jonathan Chang, a Tesla veteran of almost eight years who is serving as a vice president in the company’s legal department. Mr Butswinkas is returning full-time to his private practice at Williams & Connolly, effective immediately. In a statement about his departure, Mr Butswinkas noted that while he is departing from his post as general counsel, he is looking forward to working with Tesla as an outside counsel. He said, ‘I’m grateful for the opportunity over the past seven months to have worked with both Elon and Tesla, first as outside counsel and most recently as general counsel. I am returning to my home in Washington DC, and to my trial practice at Williams & Connolly. I look forward to continuing my work with Tesla in an outside counsel role.’ He was hired early December 2018, following the departure of former general counsel Todd Maron, who led Tesla’s legal department for five years. Following encounters between Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, Tesla has seen a number of executive shakeups.

Cinedigm general counsel Gary Loffredo has been appointed to the newly created role of chief operating officer. Mr Loffredo will retain his roles as general counsel and president of Digital Cinema, reporting to Chris McGurk, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of legal, finance, human resources, business development, IT and strategic planning.  This move is also intended to streamline the Company’s corporate structure and enhance management effectiveness and coordination. Mr Loffredo has been a key management figure with Cinedigm since 2000, working in a variety of roles.

Forum Energy Technologies has announces its general counsel succession, with the promotion of John C Ivascu to serve as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. James L McCulloch, Forum’s general counsel since 2010, has transitioned to serve as chief compliance officer and as an advisor to the chief executive officer. Mr Ivascu joined Forum in 2011 as assistant general counsel and has held positions with increasing responsibility since that time. Most recently, he served as vice president, deputy general counsel and secretary.

Former Ecolab executive vice president and general counsel James Seifert has joined Minnesota law firm FMJ as shareholder in the firm’s general corporate & business and mergers & acquisitions practice group. Mr Seifert is experienced in domestic and cross-border transactions, sophisticated financings, intellectual property, litigation, and risk management.