11 Questions to Discuss Before You Talk to a Lawyer

Please answer the following questions as a team to the best of your ability.

1. How do you want the coop to be managed? By an elected board, by the members themselves, by one or more managers?
2. How will major decisions be made? Majority vote, super majority, consensus, modified consensus?
3. What are some decisions that you think should be considered “major”? For example: Deciding when to buy more paper towels vs. deciding to convert your coop bakery into a coop bowling alley.
4. Do you want to have committees? What sort of committees might make sense?
5. Will all workers be members? (i.e. will there be employees that never become members?)
6. Will there be a probationary period before a worker can become a member? What is this period?
7. Will all the workers have the legal right to work in the U.S.?
8. How do you intend to pay your members? Salaries? Commissions? Profit Distributions? Some combination of these?
9. How will you decide whether to admit new members?
10. How will you decide whether to remove/expel members?
11. Is it important to you to use the word “cooperative” in your name?