[Foundation-l] Hiring of Interim Executive Director and Legal Counsel

[oscar]

On 6/12/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
>
>
> Following a long discussion, both publicly and privately, the board of
> the foundation voted recently to hire an interim Executive Director and
> legal counsel.  We offered the position to Brad Patrick, and he
> accepted.  We have discussed at length the parameters of the
> position, including job responsibilities, and so on.  (This has been
> posted and discussed publicly as well.)
>
> Who is Brad?  Brad has been our pro-bono legal counsel for the past
> several months, has become very active in foundation matters and in the
> projects.  He is of course a huge fan of free software, Larry Lessig,
> and Wikipedia, and lives and breathes this stuff.  Rather than doing
> "merely" legal work (nothing mere about it, of course) for us, he has
> gotten involved in helping the board think about policy, in helping
> Danny deal with various "customer support" issues, etc.
>
> The need for fulltime legal counsel should be obvious to everyone
> involved with the projects.  We are increasingly approached with
> interesting opportunities to partner with various organizations in ways
> that are consistent with our community values and missions, and we
> really need fulltime legal support to make sure these deals are done in
> a way which is safe for the foundation.  Additionally, of course there
> is an ever increasing burden as we grow more popular of legal complaints
> that we continue to try to deal with in a timely and effective manner.
>
> The need for help in the executive arena is also obvious to
> most of you... particularly any of you who have had to deal with the
> critical lack of human bandwidth at the foundation level to get things
> done in a timely fashion.
>
> Brad was selected first and foremost because he is of the community,
> actively involved for several months, and deeply committed to our mission.
>
> Additionally, when I consulted recently with our volunteer attorneys,
> including Alex Roshuk, Jean-Baptise Soufron and Michael Snow, as well
> as consulting with Eben Moglen of the FSF and Larry Lessig of Creative
> Commons, a common refrain was that we need someone who is familiar with
> the particulars of Florida law, as well as someone who can effectively
> co-ordinate and manage pro-bono legal resources.
>
> This is important to emphasize: we are not hiring an in-house counsel
> *instead of* seeking pro-bono help, but hiring in-house counsel *so
> that* we can effectively seek and manage pro-bono help.  As an example:
> when I asked Eben Moglen for help, he said that he can (starting this
> fall, most likely) arrange for us the equivalent of a half-time lawyer,
> except he was quite adamant that he could do so only if we could manage
> the pro-bono hours effectively, and he was very strongly in support of
> us having someone fulltime.
>
> Additionally, Brad will be taking on a number of job responsibilities
> that fall outside of the strictly legal scope, *on an interim basis*.
> We, the board, have been overwhelmed for many months, and we need help
> and assistance with business deals, legal matters, finance, audit,
> planing, etc., etc., the list goes on and on.
>
> We intend to hire a fulltime Executive Director following a very careful
> process of consulting with the community, building support globally,
> defining what the foundation needs, and a comprehensive search for a
> good candidate, both *within the existing community* and *outside the
> community*.  It is my intention that we be very very careful in this
> process to preserve our fundamentally community-driven model, while at
> the same time adding professionalism to the organization in order to
> empower and defend the community model. :)
>
> Among Brad's duties will be to assist in co-ordinating and managing that
> search process, in conjunction with the board and community leaders of
> all kinds.
>
> We expect there to be significant press attention to this hiring, and
> significant support and attention from the community.  If you have been
> following the discussion on foundation-l, you will know that there are
> serious excitements and of course concerns in the community about what
> this direction means for the future of the foundation and for the
> community.
>
> I intend to keep repeating my same message strongly and simply: it is my
> intention to build upon and extend our radical methods of openness and
> community involvement, while at the same time playing close attention to
> the needs of the organization which makes all of that possible.
> Whatever side any of you personally may come down on, relating to some
> of the details of all that, I hope that you will join me in saying that
> our similarities and hopes and dreams for the future are more important
> than any minor differences, and that we can work our way forward as we
> always have... slowly and carefully, with genuine respect for everyone
> who is taking part in the discussions in a constructive way...
>
> It is important to emphasize that the ED position is primarily about the
> organization, not about the community.  That is to say, now is not the
> time to start leaving "please unblock me" messages on Brad's talk page.
> ;-)
>
> Brad is starting work immediately.
>
> --Jimbo


herewith also my sincere congratulations to brad and the organization!
(this quote about "a small step..." came to mind, and i couldn't resist
remembering how pete conrad felt) ;-)

oscar

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