Elon Musk’s lawyer is also a clown: Who is Jaymie Parkkinen?

OpenAI has proven to be one of the most advanced and vital artificial intelligence companies in the world. Its products like ChatGPT, Sora and DALL-E have millions of users across the globe, making it one of the most famous tech giants in the AI market. However, in 2025, the company faced the limelight for one more thing, a legal battle between X's owner Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Musk and Altman are engaged in a courtroom battle over the origins of OpenAI. The two are suing each other in San Francisco federal court in a series of claims and counterclaims. Altman is represented by a team of elite firms, including Morrison & Foerster and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. Musk on the other hand, has turned to a pair of litigation shops.




And at one firm, one of his lawyers is a clown. That's Jaymie Parkkinen, as per Business Insider. Parkkinen has been working on some of the most controversial discovery disputes. In a July hearing, he singlehandedly faced three lawyers representing OpenAI and Microsoft in the lawsuit.

However, the man who is a lawyer by day works as a clown by night, literally. Apart from handling legal matters, Parkkinen juggles clown performances and operates his own 'Clown Cardio' business. "All of my comedy friends — none of them can believe I'm a lawyer," he told the outlet. "And none of my lawyer friends can believe I do clown."

If your mind immediately went to honking red noses and curly-haired wigs, then Parkinnen would like to inform you that his clown performances don't include any of the "Ronald McDonald birthday party kind of stuff" often associated with the profession.

According to him, clown is similar to the high-concept physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball. "When you strip away all the social masks that we all wear, if you strip away gender and politics and money and status and power, and you're just your raw human self without all of the trappings of society — who are you?" Parkkinen said. "And clown tries to answer that question."

As for Musk vs Altman, Musk first sued the OpenAI CEO in 2024. The lawsuit aimed at stopping OpenAI from transforming itself from a tax-exempt non-profit into a corporation.