19.05.2016, 17:25, "Chris Keating" <email clipped>:
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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