Brad Patrick served as General Counsel to the Wikimedia Foundation until March 31, 2007. Before joining WMF in June, 2006, he practiced law with Fowler White Boggs Banker PA in Tampa, Florida, specializing in intellectual property litigation, computer law, technology and internet issues.
Prior to joining Fowler White Boggs Banker, Brad practiced law in Seattle, Washington with Preg O'Donnell & Gillett, a civil litigation firm with a great view of Lake Union. He began his career in Redmond, Washington with the law firm of Magnuson Lowell, PS.
Brad graduated from Cheshire High School in Cheshire, Connecticut; Colgate University in Hamilton, New York; and Boston College Law School in Newton, Massachusetts.
How did you first become involved with WMF?
- I am a huge fan of Lawrence Lessig's and read his blog religiously. I was somewhat familiar with Wikipedia, but when Jimbo gave his speech on things which should be free, I got hooked. My first edit was to the page for my hometown. Last fall, I was poking around and had the thought, "I wonder where Wikipedia is based?" I was quite surprised to find that they were a short hop away from my office in Tampa. I emailed Jimmy and asked him to lunch. It started from there.
When did you first meet Jimmy?
- Due to his travel schedule, we weren't able to get together in person until December, 2005. We had lunch at the Dan Marino restaurant in St. Petersburg with Board member Michael Davis, whom I had gotten to know by then. We had a great conversation about the future of the organization, and hit it off.
What made you interested in coming to work for the Foundation?
- Throughout my adult life, I have wanted to combine my love of computers, the internet, education, libraries, and non-profit work. When I lived in Washington State, outside Seattle, I was very involved in several non-profit boards, including a school for gifted children, a chamber of commerce, a community leadership training program, and a community-based ethics institute. Each board is different, and you always learn through your experiences. With the school, I worked with the board to remove a head of school who had demonstrated an inability to respond to the board's requests for information, find an interim replacement, and conduct a successful search for a new head of school. A similar situation occurred at the Chamber, but it was far less dramatic. I served as a member of the curriculum committee and later on the board for our local community leadership organization, and developed a lot of materials relating to organizational management, emergent phenomenon, chaos theory, and the like. I had a great deal of fun working with that group of individuals. In each situation, I was also working to implement technology in an appropriate way for the needs of the group.
- With WMF, I found an opportunity to combine these interests in pursuit of great online content through a community structure that I believe in, support, and want to grow and evolve. It happens I can apply my years of experience as a lawyer in general practice, litigation, and technology to the Foundation's activities.
What sort of legal work have you done?
- I have worked at several private law firms and the State of Washington Department of Information Services. Primarily, my legal career has been as a civil litigator, 90% on the side of defendants. I am most comfortable working to help clients resolve their disputes before they end up in court, or, if they are in court, to do what it takes to end the matter amicably. I have represented everyone from computer companies, service providers, intellectual property owners, licensees, enormous corporations, and individuals to people in divorces and child custody battles. Over 12 years of practice, I have seen a lot of people come through some very trying circumstances and successfully move on past their lawsuits. Many of my clients were able to resolve things before they ended up in court. That's always the best solution.
How do you see your role in the Foundation and the community?
- Well, I work for the Foundation, which means I report to the Board of Trustees. As a General Counsel, I have one client, the Foundation, and spend all of my time doing Foundation business only. In that regard, my role is to be knowledgeable and responsive to any legal issues that might arise which could affect the Foundation. That's quite a large job in itself. A lot of people have the impression that the Foundation doesn't have any legal issues, because we aren't getting sued left and right. That is completely mistaken...at any given time there are many issues that need to be dealt with. Almost all of them are resolved by communicating with the affected person or group and helping them understand how the projects work. The great challenge is responding and educating people about the work the community does, without giving in on the core values and policies that have been developed over time. Sometimes that means people will be angry with what they see online, but we can't make everyone happy. We need to be true to our values in promoting free culture through the projects.
- As far as the community is concerned, the best job I can do is keep the projects running smoothly by staying out of the way. As I get to know more and more people who have been with the projects for years, I am amazed at their energy and success in growing and attracting readers and editors. I think of the projects as being similar to the metaphor of the traditional university campus. The typical university has an administration building, and the people who work in it are there to support the mission of the university. There are daily controversies in the classroom and on the quad, none of which are resolved by an administration official reaching out and saying something. For the most part, all of that community activity exists and is supported by the administration. Someone has to keep the lights on, the computers running, the bills paid, etc. Now that the Foundation has reached the size it has, it is unreasonable to assume all of the administrative work required to keep things growing at this dizzying rate can be sustained through the work of volunteers alone. The projects will always be volunteer projects, but the Foundation exists to make sure the projects aren't going to disappear. The goal is to keep the projects moving forward and growing in a healthy and sustainable way.