INDUSTRIES & PRACTICES

growing your business

Cooperative Law
DORSEY SERVES THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF GROWING BUSINESSES FORMED AS COOPERATIVES.

Overview

Cooperatives face complex legal issues and they need a legal team that understands their industry and organizational structure to help find creative and cutting-edge solutions. Our Cooperative Law group is a recognized national leader in the field of cooperative law. Our lawyers are committed to working as a team with clients in order to achieve the strategic objectives of each unique business.

We have more than 45 years of experience working with local and regional agricultural cooperatives, rural electric cooperatives, purchasing cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, worker cooperatives and start-up organizations across the nation. We serve industries such as agriculture, energy and utilities, purchasing, consumer, housing, professional services and healthcare. We also represent other agriculture-related organizations such as commodity promotion groups, cooperative banks and cooperative trade associations.

Our experience spans project development and finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, labor, employment and employee benefits, environmental, land use and permits, securities, international and trade regulations, construction contracts, intellectual property and licensing, FERC and other regulatory matters. We also know the areas unique to cooperatives, including formation and organization, voting rights and governance, antitrust/Capper Volstead Act and tax issues.

Experience

Representative Clients
  • American Legend Cooperative
  • Associated Milk Producers, Inc.
  • CHS Inc.
  • CoBank
  • GROWMARK, Inc.   
  • Land O’Lakes, Inc.
  • Menomonie Market Food Co-op
  • Mid-States Distributing Company, Inc.
  • Outpost Natural Foods
  • People’s Food Cooperative
  • Southern MN Beet Sugar Cooperative
  • Tri-State Generation & Transmission Cooperative, Inc.

Accolades

Top 25 M&A Deals Completed US Thomson

US News Best Lawyers 2021 Tier 1 Corporate Law Firm

Best Lawyers

Best Law Firms-25 Nationally Ranked Dorsey Practices 2021

US News Best Lawyers 2021 Tier 1 Securities-Capital Markets Practice

BTI Client Service A-Team 2022

US News Best Lawyers 2022 Top M&A Law Firm

US News Best Lawyers 2022 Leading Securities Regulation Law Firm

US News Best Lawyers 2022 Leading Tax Law Firm

Contacts

David Swanson
Practice Group Co-Chair
Robert Hensley
Practice Group Co-Chair

Industries & Practices

  • Benefits & Compensation
  • Energy & Natural Resources
  • Food, Beverage & Agribusiness
  • Franchise & Distribution Law
  • Labor & Employment
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Public-Private Partnerships
  • Real Estate & Land Use
  • Tax