Tesla Cycles Through Top Lawyers While Musk Spars With SEC (1)

Tesla Inc. named its third new legal chief in two years, as the company promoted David Searle to be acting head of legal and corporate secretary.

Searle takes the role after being hired a little over a year ago as Tesla’s head of compliance. Tesla welcomed him aboard from Walmart Inc., where Searle spent almost two years, having been hired to be the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer’s international chief ethics and compliance officer.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed that Searle is now the interim head of Tesla’s legal group. Searle updated his LinkedIn profile Monday to reflect his ...