[foundation-board] OKF proposal for FP7 project and ongoing legal help role

Tue Aug 24 08:10:37 UTC 2010

On 23 August 2010 22:42, Jordan S Hatcher <jordan at opencontentlawyer.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone
>
> I just wanted to ping this back to the board as I think I may not have been clear about it between this email and our board meeting.  I'm happy to spend my time pro bono on the legal side of things (thing 2), which we discussed and approved at the board meeting.
>
> For the LOD2 project (thing 1 below), this project has funding for a project manager as part of the project.  I've talked to Jonathan and Rufus, and there is a big 3 day kick off meeting in Leipzig on the 6-8 September.  I'm more than happy to go to this and think that it's really important to have a second set of eyes and ears there to get things started.
>
> I'm proposing to help with the set up of this project, which should 4-5 full days in September and a day a month  October on.  I propose to do the monthly reporting and project management through to the end of December, when we can pass it over to someone new (perhaps our project coordinator) in January.
>
> I am proposing to invoice in Euros as we are receiving euro funds (and the rates have been all over the place anyway) for €200/day, which amounts to less than a third of what I normally get billed out to clients for non-legal project management work. Funds to come out of the LOD2 project budget (and not core OKF funds). Like everyone else, I accept that I won't get paid until the OKF gets paid.
>
> Unfortunately I'm not in a place to have a full 4-5 weekdays off in September to offer it pro bono.  My sincere apologies to the board for not clarifying this further earlier.  I'm more than happy to step aside and let someone else take my place if they'd prefer or if we already have a project manager in place. Otherwise can I ask for the board's approval?

IMO this is no problem at all (I hadn't even assumed you were
necessarily doing it pro bono). This is incredibly useful and given
your abilities there is no doubt in my mind that the board should
accept the offer as it represents outstanding value for money!

> In related news, I have accepted a job with ARM up in Cambridge to start in October.  I have secured an approval from ARM for my board work with the OKFN, which was pretty crucial to accepting, so I'll continue to be able to help out on the legal side of things moving forward.

That's great Jordan and it's really great that you can still
participate going forward in OKFN's work (as our General Counsel!).

Regards,

Rufus

> On 10 Aug 2010, at 15:44, Jordan S Hatcher wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone
>>
>> I wanted to test the waters a bit and see what everyone thinks about me doing a bit more work with OKF moving forward -- to discuss in more detail on Thursday.
>>
>> I'm leaving my current role at ipVA (at least for full time) to go into private practice.  I'm not exactly sure what my next step will be, but it's looking like I can carve out a month between ipVA and starting at a law firm -- all of September -- to help out on OKF stuff.  I suggest two things I could do:
>>
>> == Thing 1 ==
>>
>> As you all know, we've got a role in the FP7 project (LOD2) that starts in September, which will mean a fair amount of project management and governance as we get things started -- it's a long project involving lots of money together with EU red tape. I understand from Rufus that he is a bit maxed out at the moment, and I think that Jonathan would prefer not to take on this role. Part of OKF's fund are to support a project manager and do the regular reporting required as part of the project, so it has funding.
>>
>> At least for the first 6-12 months, I'd be happy to put myself forward for this role, which I see as involving a chunk of time in September, and then a day or so a month to keep things moving. Even if we need to place someone else in this role, I'm happy to pitch in during September to get things sorted and to do the ongoing reporting as needed.
>>
>> == Thing 2 ==
>>
>> We all want OKF to be governed well and to meet our duties as directors. OKF is going through a significant growth period, and as a much more distributed organisation than most, this means we're facing some new challenges. The second area I wanted to explore is some sort of light touch / one day a month role helping out on the more formal legal side of things, if everyone thinks it's needed. I'd do it largely pro bono, but might have to ask for a small fee to cover any expenses (depending on the rules of the firm where I end up).  I'd see this as helping out on the management side of things, which is where help is probably most needed.
>>
>> Thoughts welcome, otherwise we can chat about it more on Thursday.
>>
>> See you then.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> ~Jordan
>>
>> ____
>> Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM
>>
>> More at: <http://www.jordanhatcher.com>
>> Co-founder:  <http://www.opendatacommons.org>
>> Open Knowledge: <http://www.okfn.org/>
>>
>>
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>> foundation-board at lists.okfn.org
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>
> ____
> Mr. Jordan S Hatcher, JD, LLM
>
> More at: <http://www.jordanhatcher.com>
> Co-founder:  <http://www.opendatacommons.org>
> Open Knowledge: <http://www.okfn.org/>
>
>
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>

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