19.05.2016, 17:25, "Chris Keating" <email clipped>:
<clipped for brevity>
I'd like to second this question - 1.7M is a very
significant sum and I am
surprised that WMF has reason to spend this much on legal services (I had
the impression that the WMF legal department handled most things
themselves).
I was surprised how little WMF Legal do themselves. When a legal matter comes up, it seems
what they do is find a law firm to pay to handle it. This happened in the case of Yank
Berry, vocalist of 60s rock and roll group the Kingsmen (Louie Louie, etc.), who was
astounded at the edits at his article by editors and administrators who very openly said
on-wiki their intent was to portray him as a swindler and someone of low moral character.
Mr. Berry credibly threatened a libel lawsuit and WMF Legal reacted by hiring some law
firm to defend the editors.
What WMF Legal seems to do itself is modify and update the terms of service, give advise
to the board, coordinate with WMF Trust and Safety in the banning of certain editors, and
handle routine inquiries.
Trillium Corsage