Cooperative Professionals Guild

Guild News - June 2022

Here's what's been happening at the Cooperative Professionals Guild since our May newsletter.

June 16th Webinar will explore the Limited Cooperative Association (LCA) model in depth.

Not all states have a domestic LCA statute but in some cases your client's best choice may be to incorporate under the LCA statute in another state.  Even for attorneys in LCA states, the model is unique and many questions may arise when interpreting it.  Learn the ins and outs and advantages and disadvantages of the LCA in this deep dive presented by knowledgeable practitioners.  Submit questions for the presenters in advance to Sarah Kaplan at sarah@cuttingedgecounsel.com or Therese Tuttle at therese@cooplawgroup.com.

The Guild is presenting at the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-ops conference Sep. 9-10, 2022.

Guild members are collaborating with SELC to present a day-long training track at the next USFWC conference which will be held live in Philadephia.  The track will focus on co-creating solidarity. We're currently planning sessions on labor law/union co-ops, undocumented workers, anti-racism, and non-hierarchical governance; please email valerialexiag@gmail.com if you'd like to get involved. USFWC will be updating their conference website as plans unfold.  We look forward to sponsoring a member get-together at the event.

Final steps towards our incorporation.

This month our drafting committee will be putting final touches on the Bylaws for the incorporation of the Guild as an independent member-oriented nonprofit organization governed by sociocratic principles.  We look forward to welcoming current members to the membership in the new organization and introducing sociocracy training for all.

Welcome to our new Members.

Thanks to these members who've joined the Guild's Member Directory since May 1:

• Fatimeh Pahlavan, a SELC legal fellow and private practice attorney in Illinois.
• Paola Eisner, a private practice attorney with the Tuttle Law Group in California.

• Ricardo Nuñez. Ricardo is currently the Director of Economic Democracy at the Sustainable Economies Law Center where he co-coordinates educational programs, legal services, policy advocacy, and regional and national ecosystem development to restore human labor to right relationship with people and the planet.  Ricardo, a long-time participant in the Guild's steering committee, is returning after a several-month sabbatical during which he reports he connected with ancestral wisdom, grieved for the many transitions that have happened in his life and the world, and found joy and meaning outside of the nonprofit industrial complex and capitalist production. 
• Tobias Damm-Luhr. Tobias is a Staff Attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, focusing on community-owned real estate and worker-cooperatives. As his SELC profile explains, Tobias is passionate about racial and economic justice and working with immigrant communities. Through his work at the Law Center, Tobias aims to strengthen anti-displacement efforts, particularly for communities of color, and to help facilitate democratic ownership of workplaces to enable workers to gain the full benefit of their labor.
• Itzel Nuno. Itzel is the Sustainable Economies Law Center’s new Workplace Democracy Project Coordinator.

To learn more about these members, click on their name to see their Guild Directory listing or SELC profile.

Member Participation Opportunities

Make sure you're getting our emails.

We send monthly webinar registration notices and newsletters to all members from our association website.  Look for emails from "Coop Professionals Guild <Coopguild@wildapricot.org>". 

If you would like to present, suggest a topic or presenter, or join the Webinar Circle of the Guild, let us know! sarah@cuttingedgecounsel.com or therese@cooplawgroup.com.

Members now have access to recordings of all past webinars via our new association website.  Simply log in using your member password and follow the link to "Webinar Recordings" on the Member Resources menu tab. (You won't see this menu option if you aren't logged in.)

Contribute to our new association website.

To date we've used our new association website to launch a Member Directory, manage Webinar registrations, post Webinar recording links and organize our extensive contacts lists. 

With your help there's much more we can do: We are planning to launch blogs and forums in July that will provide a place for members to contribute events, practice notes, professional news, job opportunities and more.  Later in the summer we'll be planning for resource libraries, improved content and graphics.  We are launching a new circle (committee) to coordinate website improvements.  If you've got time, skills and interest to contribute please send a message to Kathy Gregg through her Member Directory listing profile.

Be part of the solution. Join the Member Directory!

Our Member Directory is a very important resource for delivering on our organizational goals of supporting professional networking and development and improving public access to professionals. 

Please join our Member Directory today by completing your profile and changing the privacy settings for fields you are willing to share from the default "No access" to "Members" or "Anybody."

Three easy methods for joining the Member Directory:

1. DIY - Log in to our website as a member (see How to Log In below). Click on the login icon a second time, select 'View Profile' and follow the system links and instructions for editing and saving changes to your profile and privacy settings. (For best Directory results, consult the directions mentioned in option 2.)
2. Follow the directions in our slide presentation: Log in to our website (see How to Log In below), then follow the directions in our "How to participate in the Guild's Directory" slideshow that explains all you need to do in nine easy steps. 
3. Request a 15-minute Zoom session during which one of our Membership Circle participants will help you complete your profile in real time.  

How to Log In to the Guild's Website.

If you haven't logged in to our new website yet, give it try.  The site has members-only content and members-only functionalities that you can only access when you are logged in as a member.  To log in, click on the little blue person icon in the upper right-hand corner of any page and enter your password (or click 'Forgot password' to request a new one).  Your password was sent to you from "Coop Professionals Guild <Coopguild@wildapricot.org>" on March 13 if you were already a member then, otherwise it was emailed to you shortly after you first registered.

Have questions?

Please contact us at guildquestion@professionals.coop

Thanks for your participation in the Guild!

Your interim Steering Circle coordinators,Thomas Beckett and Therese Tuttle, and Membership Circle coordinator Kathy Gregg

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