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CLE Credit will be available in California.
Details:
The limited cooperative association (LCA) is a newer legal entity that is available in several states. In this "deep dive," lawyers who helped draft LCA legislation and work frequently with LCAs discuss the provisions of these laws, pros and cons, and how LCAs are used. If you would like to submit a question anonymously in advance, email sarah@cuttingedgecounsel.com.
Panelists:
Mark Hanson has organized over sixty cooperatives in his commercial and business practice. He was the drafter of the revised Minnesota corporate cooperative law combining five cooperative statutes into one modern cooperative statute. In private practice he was the drafter of the first limited cooperative statute in Wyoming as well as the limited cooperative statute in Minnesota. Mark worked with drafters of limited cooperative laws in other states as well. Mark also initiated the IRS revenue letter which provided that limited cooperatives could be taxed on a partnership basis. Mark has authored book chapters on cooperative structures for agribusiness and the development of cooperative statutes and has authored a number of articles on cooperatives, and their structure and governance. For the last 15 years Mark practiced with Stoel Rives, LLP in their Minneapolis office and now advises a select number of clients as a sole practitioner in ToThePt. Law LLC. Mark’s email address is hansonmtjj1@mac.com.
Professor Renee Hatcher is a human rights and community development lawyer. She is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Director of the Community Enterprise and Solidarity Economy Law Clinic at UIC Law, a legal clinic that provides free legal support to grassroot organizations, community-based businesses, cooperatives, and other solidarity economy enterprises. Prof. Hatcher is a member of Partners in Abolition, Transformation, Healing and Solidarity (PATHS), Black Lawyers Solidarity Economy Network (BLSEN), and Law for Black Lives Movement Lawyering Squad. She also serves as a board member for the New Economy Coalition and the Detroit Justice Center. Renee was one of the drafters of the Limited Worker Cooperative Association Act passed in Illinois in 2019.
Linda Phillips is Senior of Counsel at Jason Wiener PC, a public benefit corporation, based in Denver, Colorado. She obtained a J.D. from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law in 2003. Linda represents small to medium-sized businesses, with a strong emphasis on all types of cooperatives (purchasing, marketing, producer, platform and worker cooperatives). Her work includes business formations, business structural analysis, and general counsel for the cooperative community related to their business enterprises. Linda advises clients about business and cooperative entities and tax issues involved with starting a company or converting to an employee-owned entity. Linda’s former partner, James B. Dean, was co-author of the Uniform Limited Cooperative Association Act (ULCAA) passed by the Uniform Law Commissioners in 2007 and Linda helped Jim and others from the Colorado Bar Association pass a Colorado version of ULCAA in 2012. Linda has given presentations on cooperatives in several other states and can be seen with her colleague Jason Wiener on the Northwest Cooperative Development Center’s YouTube channel with a seven-part series on converting businesses to worker-owned entities, called the Legacy Tour.
Dave Swanson is a partner of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. He works with local and regional agricultural cooperatives, rural electric cooperatives, purchasing cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, worker cooperatives and start-up organizations, in industries such as agriculture, energy and utilities, purchasing, consumer, housing, professional services and healthcare. He also represents other agriculture-related organizations such as commodity promotion groups, cooperative banks and cooperative trade associations.
