Thank you for that information, Asaf, Kirill, and James.
James: my point still stands that somehow at IEGCom we are able to respond substantively to almost 100% if inquiries within 7 days. It seems to me that if we can do this at IEGCom, then asking Legal and Affcom to commit to substantively responding to all inquiries within 14 days is reasonable. There may be an exceptional case from time to time, but explanations for delays and regular updates should still be forthcoming. Users generally shouldn't need to go to Geoff or Wikimedia-l to get progress, nor should there be multiple weeks of silence from Affcom and/or Legal, especially when updates have been requested during that time.
I would like to ask that the communication and timeliness issues discussed in this thread be addressed thoroughly, and that the specific actions taken be made transparent.