User:APalmer (WMF)

Aeryn Palmer, Legal Counsel

Aeryn Palmer

Legal Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation

The truth is rarely pure, and never simple. – Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

About me

I have been an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation since December 2015, having originally joined the legal team as a fellow at the beginning of that year. I am licensed to practice in Washington, and am applying to become California registered in-house counsel.

I grew up in Seattle, and while I miss some things about living there, the rain is not one of them. I attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, and earned BAs in Classics and Ancient Near East Studies. I then went to Oxford University (Merton College) as a Rhodes Scholar, where I read Egyptology and earned an M.Phil.

After further graduate study at the University of Chicago, I switched gears entirely and ended up at Yale Law School. During my time at Yale, I worked with the Immigration Legal Services clinic and was a founding member of the Yale Visual Law Project.

Before I joined the Foundation, I was a litigation associate at a large international law firm. However, my interest in IP law lead me to Wikimedia. In addition to working for WMF, I am currently a non-resident fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society.

The legal team is generally pretty busy, but in my spare time, I am probably reading (mostly sci-fi and fantasy), writing fiction (mostly sci-fi and fantasy), or playing video games (mostly…aw, you get the idea). I also enjoy exploring San Francisco, visiting museums, and keeping up with new developments in Classics and Egyptology.

My work

My work at the Foundation focuses primarily on privacy and civil liberties law. In addition, I work with the rest of the legal team on a wide variety of other issues.

Disclaimer:

Although I work for the Wikimedia Foundation, contributions under this account do not necessarily represent the actions or views of the Foundation unless expressly stated otherwise. For example, edits to articles or uploads of other media are done in my individual, personal capacity unless otherwise stated. The legal team can only represent the Wikimedia Foundation on legal matters, so we are unable to give legal advice to others, including community members, editors, or contributors. Communications with members of the legal team are not consultations and do not create any confidential relationship.

Contact me

apalmer@wikimedia.org