Presented by Attorney Janelle Orsi (Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center)

with Portland Attorney Ashlee Albies (Associate, Creighton and Rose PC)

Community-members, attorneys, and entrepreneurs alike are invited to attend a two-day workshop examining legal strategies for the creation of sustainable, localized and sharing economies.  This workshop will look at some of the key ingredients of the transition to a new economy, including:

• Cooperatives
• Community-owned enterprises
• Social enterprise
• Local currencies
• Barter economies
• Ecovillages
• Cohousing
• Local investing
• Car sharing
• Urban agriculture
• Cottage-scale industries

How might these trends and practice transform our communities and what are the legal tools we will need to catalyze change?  The  two-day workshop will address the unique legal questions that arise in efforts to build more sustainable economies, including those relating to entity formation and structure, securities laws, employment laws, tax laws, real estate law, zoning laws, risk management, and regulation of commercial activity.  Presenters will highlight unique solutions and examine innovative organizations leading the way.  The primary focus will be legal strategies and tools that can be employed within the existing legal framework, though there will also be some discussion of ways to advocate for better policies.   Among other things, participants will gain tools and understandings helpful in forming and structuring organizations, making contracts and agreements, raising capital for community-owned enterprises, and navigating the vast and interesting world of legal regulation.

Meets 9 AM to 4 PM both days.  Venue TBA (will be in close-in Portland, with good access to bike routes and public transit).

This workshop has been approved by the Oregon State Bar for 11 CLE credits.

Instructor Bios

Janelle Orsi

Janelle is the Director of the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC), which facilitates the growth of more sustainable and localized economies through education, research, and advocacy to support practices such as barter, sharing, cooperatives, urban agriculture, shared housing, local currencies, community-supported enterprises, and local investing.  She is the co-author of The Sharing Solution (2009 Nolo Press) and the forthcoming Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy (American Bar Association Books)

J. Ashlee Albies

Ashlee is an associate with Creighton and Rose, PC.  Her legal practice focuses on civil rights and employee-side employment law. An advocate for alternative business models, she advises local worker and consumer cooperatives.  In her pre-law days, she worked for several years at a grocery cooperative in New Jersey, and is currently a Hands On Owner (HOO) of Peoples Food Coop. 

Workshop Agenda

Saturday:

9:15 - Introductions

9:30 - The Sharing Economy and the Law

10:00 - Agreements in the Sharing Economy

10:20 - Organizations in the Sharing Economy

10:35 - BREAK

10:45 - Cooperatives

11:45 - Nonprofits

12:45 - LUNCH

1:45 - Entities Designed for Social Enterprise

2:15 - Organizational Governance and Operational Structure

2:45 - Raising Community Capital

3:30 - BREAK

3:40 - Barter, Time Banks, and Local Currencies (50 minutes)

4:30 - End for the day

Sunday:

9:10 - Work and Employment Law in the Sharing Economy

10:10 - Commerce and Production in the Sharing Economy

10:55 - BREAK

11:05 - Economically Sustainable Housing and Land

12:35 - LUNCH

1:35 - Land Use and Zoning in a Sharing Economy

2:20 - Intellectual Property and Sharing

2:35 - Managing Risk in a Sharing Economy

2:50 - Advocating for Policies that Promote the Sharing Economy

3:15 - BREAK

3:25 - Exploration of Real Projects (based on questions collected from participants on Saturday)

4:15 - Closing Activity

4:30 – The End