4 ms·

Law firms are not co-ops. They are partnerships where a small number own and control the company.

DeathArrow 4y ago
What would be the difference from a company owned by five individuals that also do all the work and a coop formed by five individuals?
- jasode 4y ago
  >What would be the difference from a company owned by five individuals that also do all the work and a coop formed by five individuals? Parent is probably talking about "BigLaw" (thousands of lawyers) and boutique law firms (hundred lawyers or less). Most lawyers at the firms are employees (i.e. the associates) and not part-owners (i.e. the partners). They are not co-ops. Even in a tiny local law firm of 5 partners/owners and no junior associates, they'd still have the staff paralegals and secretaries as non-owner employees so they're not really co-ops either.
  - sdenton4 4y ago
    FWIW, farming co-ops are often more similar to the lawyer model, in practice: A small number of owners who hire out lots of manual labor. You could certainly have a similar model for software co-ops, using contracts for various non-central parts of the work. Most worker co-ops also include a probationary period for new hires before they become part owners (because to do otherwise would be a bit insane). A really long probationary period with a low chance of conversion starts looking a lot like the lawyer model...
- jsonne 4y ago
  Because the model of a law firm is maybe 10 senior partners own the company and there's 200 attorneys and several hundred assistants and paralegals under them. Its not much different than most modern corporations having a bunch of shareholders and a board in practice.
- guerrilla 4y ago
  More than five individuals do all the work or they wouldn't have hired other people. A coop is owned by all the workers.
heavyset_go 4y ago
Producer co-ops are similar in that respect.
- missedthecue 4y ago
  One major difference is that a law firm makes money by selling billable hours whereas a tech company makes money by producing, selling, and distributing an actual product. You don't see law firms raising millions to open shop, but it's almost a pre-requisite for serious tech companies. A law firm can be profitable from day one. This difference makes it much harder to use the co-op model for tech companies unless all the workers are independently wealthy and don't need VCs.

What would be the difference from a company owned by five individuals that also do all the work and a coop formed by five individuals?

jasode 4y ago
>What would be the difference from a company owned by five individuals that also do all the work and a coop formed by five individuals? Parent is probably talking about "BigLaw" (thousands of lawyers) and boutique law firms (hundred lawyers or less). Most lawyers at the firms are employees (i.e. the associates) and not part-owners (i.e. the partners). They are not co-ops. Even in a tiny local law firm of 5 partners/owners and no junior associates, they'd still have the staff paralegals and secretaries as non-owner employees so they're not really co-ops either.
- sdenton4 4y ago
  FWIW, farming co-ops are often more similar to the lawyer model, in practice: A small number of owners who hire out lots of manual labor. You could certainly have a similar model for software co-ops, using contracts for various non-central parts of the work. Most worker co-ops also include a probationary period for new hires before they become part owners (because to do otherwise would be a bit insane). A really long probationary period with a low chance of conversion starts looking a lot like the lawyer model...
jsonne 4y ago
Because the model of a law firm is maybe 10 senior partners own the company and there's 200 attorneys and several hundred assistants and paralegals under them. Its not much different than most modern corporations having a bunch of shareholders and a board in practice.
guerrilla 4y ago
More than five individuals do all the work or they wouldn't have hired other people. A coop is owned by all the workers.

heavyset_go 4y ago

Producer co-ops are similar in that respect.

missedthecue 4y ago
One major difference is that a law firm makes money by selling billable hours whereas a tech company makes money by producing, selling, and distributing an actual product. You don't see law firms raising millions to open shop, but it's almost a pre-requisite for serious tech companies. A law firm can be profitable from day one. This difference makes it much harder to use the co-op model for tech companies unless all the workers are independently wealthy and don't need VCs.