While uniform state business corporation statutes provide level expectations for enterprises across the United States, the field of cooperative laws is a quirky and often threadbare patchwork quilt. While statutes in a handful of jurisdictions have stayed current with the needs of modern cooperative activity, other state statutes remain grounded in agricultural concepts of the nineteenth century. Operating from the assumption that a new solidarity economy will require a broader and more uniform legal framework for cooperatives, this webinar examines the basis for a uniform cooperative corporation law . How would that be accomplished? What would it contain?

This activity has been approved by the the California Bar for 1.0 hour of MCLE specialty credit.

We will discuss:

- The current range of variation in state co-op laws and key attributes of "modern" cooperative statutes.
- How the Uniform Laws Commission process might work in view of the recent Uniform Cooperative Association Act.
- Audience questions and comments on the "must-haves" of a modern cooperative corporation statute.

Facilitated by:

Thomas Beckett has significant experience working with agriculture enterprises in the region, including cooperatives, quasi-cooperatives, and nonprofits, as well as with working farmers. Beckett has presented on the Business Law for Worker Cooperatives at the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives conference and at the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy. He has taught Business Law at Warren Wilson College and is certified to present the FastTrac TechVenture program, the Kauffman Foundation’s entrepreneurial training curriculum.

Panelists:

Thomas Geu, Professor of Law and former Dean of the University of South Dakota School of Law, and Reporter of the Uniform Limited Cooperative Association Act to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

Meegan Moriarty is the Cooperative Public Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service. She leads a nationwide project researching, comparing and analyzing state cooperative statutes and tracks federal legal developments affecting cooperatives.

Tickets:

Suggested donation: $25. Please e-mail [email protected] if you cannot afford the suggested donation.

Dues paying members of the Cooperative Professionals Guild receive access to this webinar for free. Not a member? Become a dues paying member of the Guild and you will be automatically invited to this event! Join today by clicking here!