Legal contact

[Tyler Mitchell]

Hi all,
I had a good talk with Porter Merriman a few days ago and one issue  
came up regarding contacting her, and others, that have been provided  
to us through Autodesk.  As OSGeo moves forward, especially when we  
retain our own particular contact in the future, it will be paramount  
to have a gatekeeper for communicating to our legal rep.  It takes  
substantial time and money to get advice and if (hypothetically  
speaking) everyone on this list contacted counsel independently, we  
would wear out our welcome or cost OSGeo substantially.  Also, I know  
we all have our own particular legal questions that might be of  
interest to us or our projects, but may not be seen as priorities for  
the organisation (i.e. blessed by the board).  It can be a fine line,  
but doesn't necessarily have to be if we nail down a process.

I don't mind helping funnel requests but I don't know how/why/when  
I'd assess what are valid requests or not.  I'd like to put this back  
to the board to provide guidance on.  Perhaps the board itself can  
agree to discuss any legal-related questions first and then agree,  
together, to send the question for more advice.  If you want me to  
help guard the gate, then I would redirect anything not already  
discussed by the board, back to the board for consideration.  But if  
it's been discussed then I could help pass on to Porter and others as  
appropriate.

Any thoughts on this?

Tyler