Cooperative Law

We believe in the cooperative spirit, and we understand cooperatives’ needs and particular characteristics. That’s why we at GSGA are the first major Brazilian law firm to create an area completely focused on cooperative law. We offer comprehensive solutions for cooperatives in every industry, from cooperative formation to issues of compliance, liability management, proper tax treatment of cooperative activities, business modeling and asset organization.

Our goal is to help ensure efficiency, legal certainty and regulatory compliance so that cooperatives function well and the assets of cooperative managers and members are protected.

❯  Plans for establishing cooperative businesses with a focus on scalability, legal certainty, regulatory compliance and tax efficiency, from conception through to business registration.

❯  Risk mapping and preparing and implementing internal rules for organizing cooperative members.

❯  Reviewing and updating bylaws, internal rules, systemic regulations and rules for funds, reserves and benefits.

❯  The acquisition or establishment of businesses that are not cooperatives with business structuring designed to facilitate the distribution of economic benefits to cooperative members.

❯  Consolidations, mergers and spinoffs of cooperative businesses.

❯  Preparing and improving systemic rules, brand sharing, inter-cooperative transactions and exchanges with a focus on preserving cooperative activities.

❯  Independent, professional support for boards of directors, executive committees, fiscal councils, special committees and general meetings.

❯  Review and improvement of corporate governance models, applying best practices and with a focus on efficient management and legal certainty, without losing sight of the particular characteristics of cooperatives in each industry.

❯  Reorganizing cooperatives’ assets to improve cooperative members’ equity.

❯  Secure dissolution and liquidation of cooperatives with an eye to preserving cooperative members’ assets.

❯  Independent legal auditing, with a focus on cooperative compliance in the corporate, tax, regulatory, contractual and procedural areas.

❯  Strategies for managing tax, civil, corporate and general litigation liabilities with a view to recovering cooperatives in difficulties.

❯  Legal conflict management to reduce litigation and create litigation strategies.

❯  Proper tax treatment for cooperative activities, from advanced planning of transactions through to defense in administrative proceedings and lawsuits.

❯  Organizing the assets of cooperative managers and members.