Wikimedia Announces New General Counsel

For those of you keeping track, Wikimedia Foundation (who bring us Wikipedia, the MediaWiki platform it is housed on, and numerous other projects) has just announced new general counsel: Geoff Brigham, formerly of eBay, who will be moving from Paris to San Francisco for his new position starting March 7th.

From the February 4th announcement by Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director:

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.

About Geoff Brigham, she says:

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.