[Foundation-l] New General Counsel!: Geoffrey Brigham

Sat Feb 5 21:08:24 UTC 2011

Welcome to you, Goeff. Your academic and work credentials and experience are
impressive. Congratulations. I especially like your background as a busker.
And your bringing your music to work. You should be a healthy addition to
the Wikimedia staff.

Marc Riddell

on 2/5/11 3:11 PM, Theo10011 at de10011 at gmail.com wrote:

> Hi Geoff,
> 
> 
> {{welcome}}
> 
> Welcome !!!
> 
> 
> Regards
> 
> Theo
> 
> 
> On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 1:38 AM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Welcome to Wikimedia, Geoff!  May you find both challenges and
>> inspiration on our legal frontiers.
>> 
>> SJ
>> 
>> 
>> Sue writes:
>>> Hey folks,
>>> 
>>> I'm delighted to tell you that the Wikimedia Foundation has a new
>>> General Counsel.
>>> 
>>> Geoff Brigham, formerly of eBay, will start with us March 7 once he's
>>> relocated from Paris to San Francisco. He'll report to me.
>>> 
>>> To recap: In late October, I hired m|Oppenheim to find us a new
>>> General Counsel. I expected it to be a tough search, because
>>> appropriate GCs for the Wikimedia Foundation don't exactly grow on
>>> trees. As a growing U.S.-based non-profit that operates one of the
>>> world's most popular websites in partnership with a global network of
>>> volunteers, we need a GC who can handle a broad range of legal issues
>>> including the legal defense of our projects in an international
>>> context, an array of matters related to policy and regulatory
>>> compliance, issues such as privacy, and helping us with the challenges
>>> of opening a new office in India. Very few people have that kind of
>>> breadth. And for our GC as with all our jobs, we are also looking for
>>> someone who is passionate about the mission, has a collaborative and
>>> inclusive personal style, is inclined towards transparency, and
>>> ideally is a bit of an iconoclast. It's a lot to ask of one person :-)
>>> 
>>> So we braced ourselves for a long and difficult search. But in fact it
>>> turned out to be highly enjoyable. Over a period of several months,
>>> m|Oppenheim talked with hundreds of connectors and candidates, and in
>>> the end we interviewed about a dozen finalists. They were terrific,
>>> inspiring lawyers: I was glad to meet them all. And I am delighted
>>> that we discovered Geoff.
>>> 
>>> Geoff spent eight years at eBay during its main growth years, which
>>> gives him important experience managing the legal challenges and risks
>>> inherent in operating a popular site. His work at eBay encompassed
>>> North America, Europe, Asia and Australia where he handled legal
>>> issues throughout the world. He's worked alone and led large teams. He
>>> is hands-on, collaborative, open-minded and inclusive. And he is
>>> extremely excited about working with us.
>>> 
>>> A little more about Geoff's background: Most recently, Geoff was
>>> Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel at eBay in San Jose,
>>> California. There, he directed legal affairs in more than 15 countries
>>> throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, encompassing
>>> litigation, copyright and trademarks, privacy, ethics, product and
>>> site content review, policy and regulatory compliance, new market
>>> advice, contracts, governance and site security.  Previously he worked
>>> for eBay in Bern, Switzerland for four years as Vice-President &
>>> Senior Director, and in Paris, France for two years as Senior
>>> Compliance and Litigation Counsel.
>>> 
>>> Prior to joining eBay, Geoff was Assistant United States Attorney in
>>> Miami, Florida. Before that he worked for the U.S. Department of
>>> Justice in Paris and Washington, was an Associate with Finley, Kumble,
>>> Wagner et al. in Washington, and was a law clerk for the Honorable
>>> Howard F. Corcoran, U.S. Judge for the District of Columbia.  Geoff
>>> received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in
>>> Washington DC. He also holds a B.A. in Political Science and French,
>>> from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
>>> 
>>> He speaks English and French. He's a passionate music fan and an
>>> accomplished flute player: he used to busk many years ago, playing
>>> jazz and classical music on the Parisian streets, and he was well
>>> known at eBay for playing his flute in the office in the early
>>> mornings. Maybe that will happen at the Wikimedia Foundation too :-)
>>> 
>>> Many thanks to Lisa Grossman of m|Oppenheim for leading this important
>>> search for us. My thanks also to everyone who helped Lisa and me
>>> define the General Counsel role and surface and interview candidates,
>>> including (roughly in order of their involvement) Erik Moeller, Cyn
>>> Skyberg, Kat Walsh, Arne Klempert, Stu West, SJ Klein, Barry Newstead,
>>> Veronique Kessler, Danese Cooper, Zack Exley, Jimmy Wales, Bishakha
>>> Datta, Matt Halprin, Gautam John, Pavel Richter and Shari Steele. My
>>> thanks also to Derrick Coetzee, who happened to be in the office one
>>> day and got pulled into an impromptu conversation helping brief Geoff
>>> about some of the issues facing us. I also want to thank Wikimedia
>>> France for staging its GLAM conference in Paris recently: Geoff
>>> attended it and says that meeting Wikimedians there, and watching them
>>> work, significantly contributed to his desire to join us.
>>> 
>>> If I remember correctly how this list works, replies to this mail
>>> should go directly to foundation-l. (That's how it's intended to work:
>>> I hope it's actually true.)  Geoff is subscribed to foundation-l, so
>>> if you do reply there, he'll see it. He doesn't yet have a Wikimedia
>>> e-mail address, but once he does, you will likely see it turn up on
>>> this and other lists. Please note he's not on the job until March 7:
>>> until then, he's only really available to us socially, not for work.
>>> 
>>> Please join me in welcoming Geoff to the Wikimedia movement :-)
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Sue
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj          +1 617 529
>> 4266
>> 
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