Over on AutoAdmit (via Concurring Opinions), folks have been talking about Wikiscanner. This neat application allows you to see recent edits to Wikipedia and who made them, in terms of the editor’s IP address (which often reveals their employer).

As Professor Dave Hoffman notes at Concurring Opinions, law firm lawyers seem to love playing with Wikipedia. A tipster is more specific:

Apparently members of Vault 15 law firms have been making, umm, questionable edits to wikipedia. For example:

— Vandalizing Ann Coulter’s page
— Shameless self-promotion
— Editing articles on BDSM (WTF?)
— Hiding links to Skull and Bones
— Taking shots at Noam Chomsky
— Taking shots at other firms

Eric Turkewitz, over at the NY Personal Injury Law Blog, zeroes in on edits made from computers at Wachtell Lipton (where we once worked). He accuses the firm of “duplicity,” since someone at WLRK is making (flattering) edits to the firm’s page, even though the firm claims it doesn’t engage in advertising or marketing.

But what if the edits were made not by Wachtell firm management, but by a mere associate? Would that be as problematic? Should Wachtell, or any other law firm, prohibit firm employees from touching up firm write-ups in Wikipedia (at least from law firm computers)?

With respect to the Wachtell Wikipedia edits, we have some interesting speculation. Check it out, after the jump.