Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: lawyer selection

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

>The first question I have is about how important it is for the general =
>group to be involved in the final stage of interviews with lawyers? [working 
through boilerplate for documents]

Even with only 5 families (and definitely in larger groups), have a small 
delegation (2 maybe) meet with a lawyer. Her time (or his) is valuable, 
even if the initial discussion is free, and this is not a good time for 
group process. The delegate(s) who do the interviewing need criteria from 
the group. A list of questions, the same list to ask each interviewee. 
The task force then reports to the group, probably with a recommendation. 


>I feel that we should get a =
>better feeling for how the lawyer will be working with a group, so =
>should put him/her in that situation immediately and see how he/she =
>handles it.=20

A lawyer isn't like an architect in this regard (and even an architect 
should only have to work with a whole group on select occasions). You 
learn what it is you need to process, then on your own time you discuss 
and decide, and then you tell the lawyer what you want to accomplish and 
she/he provides the legal language that accomplishes that. 

When we did our Bylaws and CC&Rs, we started by collecting documents from 
an assortment of similar organizations. One in particular was a pretty 
good match, so we re-worked it with our own goals in mind. It takes far 
less time for a professional to "proofread" a document than to elicit it 
in the first place. 




Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com

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