New Work City membership agreement - version 1

Business/Operations Agreements & Templates
1

Hi everybody!

Just uploaded the preliminary NWC membership agreement, which you can
view here:
http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/web/nwc-coworking-membership-agreement-grey.pdf

It's mostly cribbed from other coworking spaces' agreements. I think
it's Indy Hall's plus perhaps one other, I forget which.

If anyone out there would like to give it a once-over and let me know
if anything looks amiss, it would be very much appreciated! We'll be
printing out a bunch of these later today in advance of an event for
New Work City tonight.

Barring any last minute problems, it looks like we are on the verge of
a deal. I'll keep you posted!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,
Tony Bacigalupo
New Work City

2

If anyone out there would like to give it a once-over and let me know
if anything looks amiss, it would be very much appreciated! We'll be
printing out a bunch of these later today in advance of an event for
New Work City tonight.

I am always amazed at these clauses:

Non-Disparagement.
You shall, during and after the participation in and use of the
Services, refrain from making any
statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
third party regarding NEW
WORK CITY, or any of NEW WORK CITY's officers, directors, employees,
personnel, agents,
policies, services or products, other than to comply with law.

I only ever see them from US companies. I happen to think that clause
contradicts the coworking 'values'. This is a gag clause, nothing less
than that.

Just my 2 cents.

···

--
Steven Heath
Director
Foxbane Consulting
www.foxbane.co.nz
Cell: +64 21 706-067

Interested in Coworking in Wellington? Check out www.altspace.co.nz

3

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
"disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of
local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick
station-c.com

4

Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the “disparaging” or get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against defamation?

Also, since the space isn’t open yet, we’ll be adding stipulations that membership won’t start until after the space is open, and that the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

Anything else?

···

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, [email protected] [email protected] wrote:

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any

third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out

“disparaging” after the first round of signings, “defamation” is one

thing but with “disparaging” in there it looks like we don’t want to

be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of

local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick

station-c.com

5

To the many of you who’ve worked from our agreement:
Ours was taken from a very generic “shared space” agreement that I found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly modded the TOS that I’d found and worked from there.

It’s been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement, it’s got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I’d love to work together to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

-Alex

···

–

–

Alex Hillman
im always developing something
digital: [email protected]
visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com

local: www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo [email protected] wrote:

Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the “disparaging” or get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against defamation?

Also, since the space isn’t open yet, we’ll be adding stipulations that membership won’t start until after the space is open, and that the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

Anything else?

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, [email protected] [email protected] wrote:

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any

third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out

“disparaging” after the first round of signings, “defamation” is one

thing but with “disparaging” in there it looks like we don’t want to

be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of

local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick

station-c.com

6

I would love the opportunity to work with you on this.
Our agreement was crafted after a few spots and I modified it heavily
myself.

···

On Sep 26, 2008, at 10:01 AM, Alex Hillman wrote:

To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I
found
somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly
modded the
TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,
it's
got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as
if
anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work
together
to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really
needs
to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

--
Daniel E. Shipton
Founder, Impromptu Studio
President & Founder, Redship Technologies
Office: (515) 868-0060 Cell: (515) 460-3618

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > <[email protected]>wrote:

Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or
get rid
of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against
defamation?

Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations
that
membership won't start until after the space is open, and that the
space
will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null
and void.

Anything else?

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < >> [email protected]> wrote:

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
"disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a
couple of
local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick
station-c.com

>

7

I'd be very interested in helping to create an open source universal
coworking agreement.

Marc Nathan
www.houstontech.org | www.katydock.com
mna...@houstontech.org

···

On Sep 26, 10:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> wrote:

To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I found
somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly modded the
TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement, it's
got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as if
anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work together
to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really needs
to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

-Alex

--
-----
--
-----
Alex Hillman
im always developing something
digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local:www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > <[email protected]>wrote:

> Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or get rid
> of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against
> defamation?

> Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations that
> membership won't start until after the space is open, and that the space
> will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

> Anything else?

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > [email protected]> wrote:

>> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
>> > third party regarding NEW

>> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
>> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
>> thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
>> be critiqued either.

>> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of
>> local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

>> Patrick
>> station-c.com

8

I'd be interested in helping review/edit/publish. Do we have any leads on legal resources available? Does a creative commons license or gnu fdl license make sense for everyone?

···

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: marc1919 <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:03:50
To: Coworking<[email protected]>
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

I'd be very interested in helping to create an open source universal
coworking agreement.

Marc Nathan
www.houstontech.org | www.katydock.com
mna...@houstontech.org

On Sep 26, 10:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> wrote:

To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I found
somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly modded the
TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement, it's
got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as if
anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work together
to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really needs
to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

-Alex

--
-----
--
-----
Alex Hillman
im always developing something
digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local:www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > <[email protected]>wrote:

> Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or get rid
> of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against
> defamation?

> Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations that
> membership won't start until after the space is open, and that the space
> will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

> Anything else?

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > [email protected]> wrote:

>> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
>> > third party regarding NEW

>> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
>> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
>> thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
>> be critiqued either.

>> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of
>> local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

>> Patrick
>> station-c.com

9

A little late to the discussion but I am happy to share the coworking
component of our contract and I do have
connections to legal resources should we need. Cubes & Crayons
agreement was created by a lawyer and
protects us from liability and protects our clients. We don't have a
defamation clause.

All the best,
Felicity

Space: www.cubesandcrayons.com
Blog: cubes.typepad.com/blog
Personal blog: cubes.typepad.com/cake

···

On Sep 26, 9:15 pm, dko...@gmail.com wrote:

I'd be interested in helping review/edit/publish. Do we have any leads on legal resources available? Does a creative commons license or gnu fdl license make sense for everyone?
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: marc1919 <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:03:50
To: Coworking<[email protected]>
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

I'd be very interested in helping to create an open source universal
coworking agreement.

Marc Nathanwww.houstontech.org|www.katydock.com
mna...@houstontech.org

On Sep 26, 10:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> > wrote:
> To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
> Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I found
> somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly modded the
> TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

> It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement, it's
> got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

> If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as if
> anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work together
> to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really needs
> to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

> -Alex

> --
> -----
> --
> -----
> Alex Hillman
> im always developing something
> digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
> visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> local:www.indyhall.org

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > > <[email protected]>wrote:

> > Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or get rid
> > of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against
> > defamation?

> > Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations that
> > membership won't start until after the space is open, and that the space
> > will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

> > Anything else?

> > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > > [email protected]> wrote:

> >> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
> >> > third party regarding NEW

> >> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
> >> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
> >> thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
> >> be critiqued either.

> >> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of
> >> local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

> >> Patrick
> >> station-c.com

10

Great, would love to check out what you created for cubes and crayons. Is your facility here in the bay area?

···

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: felicity at cubes <[email protected]>

Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:24:11
To: Coworking<[email protected]>
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

A little late to the discussion but I am happy to share the coworking
component of our contract and I do have
connections to legal resources should we need. Cubes & Crayons
agreement was created by a lawyer and
protects us from liability and protects our clients. We don't have a
defamation clause.

All the best,
Felicity

Space: www.cubesandcrayons.com
Blog: cubes.typepad.com/blog
Personal blog: cubes.typepad.com/cake

On Sep 26, 9:15 pm, dko...@gmail.com wrote:

I'd be interested in helping review/edit/publish. Do we have any leads on legal resources available? Does a creative commons license or gnu fdl license make sense for everyone?
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: marc1919 <[email protected]>

Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:03:50
To: Coworking<[email protected]>
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

I'd be very interested in helping to create an open source universal
coworking agreement.

Marc Nathanwww.houstontech.org|www.katydock.com
mna...@houstontech.org

On Sep 26, 10:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> > wrote:
> To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
> Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I found
> somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly modded the
> TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

> It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement, it's
> got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

> If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as if
> anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work together
> to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really needs
> to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

> -Alex

> --
> -----
> --
> -----
> Alex Hillman
> im always developing something
> digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
> visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> local:www.indyhall.org

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > > <[email protected]>wrote:

> > Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or get rid
> > of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against
> > defamation?

> > Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations that
> > membership won't start until after the space is open, and that the space
> > will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

> > Anything else?

> > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > > [email protected]> wrote:

> >> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
> >> > third party regarding NEW

> >> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
> >> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
> >> thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
> >> be critiqued either.

> >> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of
> >> local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

> >> Patrick
> >> station-c.com

11

Hi Alex,

I'd like to help create an open source working agreement. Although
I'm not a lawyer, I've worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have
written employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts
which have been greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I'm great
at writing really plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read
contracts.

What's the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker
(646) 269-4915
alexl...@gmail.com

Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

···

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> wrote:

To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I found
somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly modded the
TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement, it's
got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as if
anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work together
to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what really needs
to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

-Alex

--
-----
--
-----
Alex Hillman
im always developing something
digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local:www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > <[email protected]>wrote:

> Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or get rid
> of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against
> defamation?

> Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations that
> membership won't start until after the space is open, and that the space
> will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

> Anything else?

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > [email protected]> wrote:

>> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any
>> > third party regarding NEW

>> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
>> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is one
>> thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't want to
>> be critiqued either.

>> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of
>> local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

>> Patrick
>> station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

12

An open source working agreement would be GREAT.
I don't know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to see one
created and will provide ideas the best I can.

-Mike Schinkel
President; NewClarity LLC
http://mikeschinkel.com

···

-----Original Message-----
From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Alex Linsker
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM
To: Coworking
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

Hi Alex,

I'd like to help create an open source working agreement. Although I'm not
a lawyer, I've worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have written
employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts which have been
greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I'm great at writing really
plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

What's the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker
(646) 269-4915
alexl...@gmail.com

Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> wrote:

To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I
found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly
modded the TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,
it's got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as
if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work
together to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what
really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

-Alex

--
-----
--
-----
Alex Hillman
im always developing something
digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local:www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > <[email protected]>wrote:

> Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or
> get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection
> against defamation?

> Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations
> that membership won't start until after the space is open, and that
> the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is

null and void.

> Anything else?

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > [email protected]> wrote:

>> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to
>> > any third party regarding NEW

>> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
>> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is
>> one thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't
>> want to be critiqued either.

>> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple
>> of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

>> Patrick
>> station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

13

I'd also dig helping with an open source coworking member agreement.
We're currently not using one at Conjunctured! :o

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for
an LLC. Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Would be nice to have a open source coworking legal library.

Dusty

···

On Sep 29, 11:51 pm, "Mike Schinkel" <[email protected]> wrote:

An open source working agreement would be GREAT.
I don't know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to see one
created and will provide ideas the best I can.

-Mike Schinkel
President; NewClarity LLChttp://mikeschinkel.com

-----Original Message-----
From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com] On

Behalf Of Alex Linsker
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM
To: Coworking
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

Hi Alex,

I'd like to help create an open source working agreement. Although I'm not
a lawyer, I've worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have written
employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts which have been
greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I'm great at writing really
plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

What's the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker
(646) 269-4915
alexl...@gmail.comwww.alexlinsker.com
Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> > wrote:
> To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
> Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I
> found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly
> modded the TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

> It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,
> it's got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

> If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as
> if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work
> together to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what
> really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

> -Alex

> --
> -----
> --
> -----
> Alex Hillman
> im always developing something
> digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
> visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> local:www.indyhall.org

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > > <[email protected]>wrote:

> > Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or
> > get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection
> > against defamation?

> > Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations
> > that membership won't start until after the space is open, and that
> > the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is
null and void.

> > Anything else?

> > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > > [email protected]> wrote:

> >> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to
> >> > any third party regarding NEW

> >> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
> >> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is
> >> one thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't
> >> want to be critiqued either.

> >> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple
> >> of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

> >> Patrick
> >> station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

> - Show quoted text -

14

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for an

LLC. Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Yes. :slight_smile:

-Mike

···

-----Original Message-----
From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Dusty
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 3:10 AM
To: Coworking
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

I'd also dig helping with an open source coworking member agreement.
We're currently not using one at Conjunctured! :o

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for an LLC.
Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Would be nice to have a open source coworking legal library.

Dusty

On Sep 29, 11:51 pm, "Mike Schinkel" <[email protected]> wrote:

An open source working agreement would be GREAT.
I don't know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to
see one created and will provide ideas the best I can.

-Mike Schinkel
President; NewClarity LLChttp://mikeschinkel.com

-----Original Message-----
From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com]
On

Behalf Of Alex Linsker
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM
To: Coworking
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version
1

Hi Alex,

I'd like to help create an open source working agreement. Although
I'm not a lawyer, I've worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have
written employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts
which have been greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I'm great
at writing really plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

What's the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker
(646) 269-4915
alexl...@gmail.comwww.alexlinsker.com
Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> > wrote:
> To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
> Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I
> found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly
> modded the TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

> It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,
> it's got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

> If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as
> if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to
> work together to create an open source coworking agreement that
> covers what really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other

crap.

> -Alex

> --
> -----
> --
> -----
> Alex Hillman
> im always developing something
> digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
> visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> local:www.indyhall.org

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > > <[email protected]>wrote:

> > Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging"
> > or get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have
> > protection against defamation?

> > Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations
> > that membership won't start until after the space is open, and
> > that the space will open within a certain range of dates or the
> > agreement is
null and void.

> > Anything else?

> > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > > > [email protected]> wrote:

> >> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to
> >> > any third party regarding NEW

> >> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
> >> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is
> >> one thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't
> >> want to be critiqued either.

> >> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a
> >> couple of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

> >> Patrick
> >> station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

> - Show quoted text -

15

I would love to see it!

At Your Service,

HeatherO’

Heather O’Sullivan Canney, RP, Broker/Partner
Heather O’ Real Estate, Inc.
Real Living Partners Triangle, LLC

(919)427-7770

104B N. Salem St. Apex NC 27502
www.HeatherO.com
www.ApexGoodLiving.com

···

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 3:19 AM, Mike Schinkel [email protected] wrote:

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for an

LLC. Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Yes. :slight_smile:

-Mike

-----Original Message-----

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On

Behalf Of Dusty

Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 3:10 AM

To: Coworking

Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

I’d also dig helping with an open source coworking member agreement.

We’re currently not using one at Conjunctured! :o

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for an LLC.

Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Would be nice to have a open source coworking legal library.

Dusty

http://conjunctured.com

On Sep 29, 11:51 pm, “Mike Schinkel” [email protected] wrote:

An open source working agreement would be GREAT.

I don’t know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to

see one created and will provide ideas the best I can.

-Mike Schinkel

President; NewClarity LLChttp://mikeschinkel.com

-----Original Message-----

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

On

Behalf Of Alex Linsker

Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM

To: Coworking

Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version

1

Hi Alex,

I’d like to help create an open source working agreement. Although

I’m not a lawyer, I’ve worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have

written employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts

which have been greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I’m great

at writing really plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

What’s the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker

(646) 269-4915

[email protected]

Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, “Alex Hillman” [email protected] > > > wrote:

To the many of you who’ve worked from our agreement:

Ours was taken from a very generic “shared space” agreement that I

found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly

modded the TOS that I’d found and worked from there.

It’s been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,

it’s got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as

if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I’d love to

work together to create an open source coworking agreement that

covers what really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other

crap.

-Alex

–

–

Alex Hillman

im always developing something

digital: [email protected]

visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com

local:www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > > > > [email protected]wrote:

Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the “disparaging”

or get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have

protection against defamation?

Also, since the space isn’t open yet, we’ll be adding stipulations

that membership won’t start until after the space is open, and

that the space will open within a certain range of dates or the

agreement is

null and void.

Anything else?

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, [email protected] < > > > > > [email protected]> wrote:

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to

any third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out

“disparaging” after the first round of signings, “defamation” is

one thing but with “disparaging” in there it looks like we don’t

want to be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a

couple of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick

station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

  • Show quoted text -
16

That’d be great!

···

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 3:19 AM, Mike Schinkel [email protected] wrote:

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for an

LLC. Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Yes. :slight_smile:

-Mike

-----Original Message-----

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On

Behalf Of Dusty

Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 3:10 AM

To: Coworking

Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

I’d also dig helping with an open source coworking member agreement.

We’re currently not using one at Conjunctured! :o

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for an LLC.

Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Would be nice to have a open source coworking legal library.

Dusty

http://conjunctured.com

On Sep 29, 11:51 pm, “Mike Schinkel” [email protected] wrote:

An open source working agreement would be GREAT.

I don’t know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to

see one created and will provide ideas the best I can.

-Mike Schinkel

President; NewClarity LLChttp://mikeschinkel.com

-----Original Message-----

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

On

Behalf Of Alex Linsker

Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM

To: Coworking

Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version

1

Hi Alex,

I’d like to help create an open source working agreement. Although

I’m not a lawyer, I’ve worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have

written employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts

which have been greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I’m great

at writing really plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

What’s the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker

(646) 269-4915

[email protected]

Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, “Alex Hillman” [email protected] > > > wrote:

To the many of you who’ve worked from our agreement:

Ours was taken from a very generic “shared space” agreement that I

found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly

modded the TOS that I’d found and worked from there.

It’s been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,

it’s got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as

if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I’d love to

work together to create an open source coworking agreement that

covers what really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other

crap.

-Alex

–

–

Alex Hillman

im always developing something

digital: [email protected]

visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com

local:www.indyhall.org

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > > > > [email protected]wrote:

Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the “disparaging”

or get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have

protection against defamation?

Also, since the space isn’t open yet, we’ll be adding stipulations

that membership won’t start until after the space is open, and

that the space will open within a certain range of dates or the

agreement is

null and void.

Anything else?

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, [email protected] < > > > > > [email protected]> wrote:

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to

any third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out

“disparaging” after the first round of signings, “defamation” is

one thing but with “disparaging” in there it looks like we don’t

want to be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a

couple of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick

station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

  • Show quoted text -
17

Great ideas.

So there are several things here:
* A CoWorking Legal Library
* An Open Source CoWorking Legal Agreement (in various forms)

Can we agree as a group, in principle on a few things:
* A license governing all of the documentation. It can't contain
legalese specific to on of the contributing organizations.
* A way of collaborating on the CoWorking Legal Agreement
* A permanent repository for the CoWorking Legal Library
?

Did I miss anything? Eventually we would need to develop some FAQs
and such for the Legal Library.

···

-
David

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 12:10 AM, Dusty <[email protected]> wrote:

I'd also dig helping with an open source coworking member agreement.
We're currently not using one at Conjunctured! :o

We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for
an LLC. Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

Would be nice to have a open source coworking legal library.

Dusty
http://conjunctured.com

On Sep 29, 11:51 pm, "Mike Schinkel" <[email protected]> wrote:

An open source working agreement would be GREAT.
I don't know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to see one
created and will provide ideas the best I can.

-Mike Schinkel
President; NewClarity LLChttp://mikeschinkel.com

-----Original Message-----
From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com] On

Behalf Of Alex Linsker
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM
To: Coworking
Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

Hi Alex,

I'd like to help create an open source working agreement. Although I'm not
a lawyer, I've worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have written
employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts which have been
greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I'm great at writing really
plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

What's the next step?

-Alex

Alex Linsker
(646) 269-4915
alexl...@gmail.comwww.alexlinsker.com
Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 26, 11:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> >> wrote:
> To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
> Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I
> found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly
> modded the TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

> It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,
> it's got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

> If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as
> if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work
> together to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what
> really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

> -Alex

> --
> -----
> --
> -----
> Alex Hillman
> im always developing something
> digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
> visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> local:www.indyhall.org

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo >> > <[email protected]>wrote:

> > Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or
> > get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection
> > against defamation?

> > Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations
> > that membership won't start until after the space is open, and that
> > the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is
null and void.

> > Anything else?

> > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < >> > > [email protected]> wrote:

> >> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to
> >> > any third party regarding NEW

> >> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
> >> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is
> >> one thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't
> >> want to be critiqued either.

> >> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple
> >> of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

> >> Patrick
> >> station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

> - Show quoted text -

>

18

David, I like your idea of a legal library and an open source
agreement for coworking.

* A license governing all of the documentation. It can't contain
legalese specific to on of the contributing organizations.

Maybe we can create an overall "operating system" coworking agreement
which can apply to all coworking groups, and we can also create
"plugins" -- paragraphs which can be inserted to the agreements of the
organizations to which they apply? For example, we might create a one-
page "General Coworking Legal Agreement," and we might create plugin
paragraphs/clauses, for example:
  - if you have a few members who own the lease and sublease to other
members, or another paragraph if
  - you have all the members share the lease.

* A way of collaborating on the CoWorking Legal Agreement

I'll ask Vanessa Scanlon if we can use MixedInk.com, which is in
beta. MixedInk is an awesome way for groups to write agreements and
agree on what the final text will be.

* A permanent repository for the CoWorking Legal Library

-Alex (of CooperBricolage/New Work City in NYC)

···

--
Alex Linsker
(646) 269-4915
alexl...@gmail.com

Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

On Sep 30, 12:53 pm, "David J. Kordsmeier" <[email protected]> wrote:

Great ideas.

So there are several things here:
* A CoWorking Legal Library
* An Open Source CoWorking Legal Agreement (in various forms)

Can we agree as a group, in principle on a few things:
* A license governing all of the documentation. It can't contain
legalese specific to on of the contributing organizations.
* A way of collaborating on the CoWorking Legal Agreement
* A permanent repository for the CoWorking Legal Library
?

Did I miss anything? Eventually we would need to develop some FAQs
and such for the Legal Library.

-
David

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 12:10 AM, Dusty <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'd also dig helping with an open source coworking member agreement.
> We're currently not using one at Conjunctured! :o

> We are however, working up a very thorough partnership agreement for
> an LLC. Anyone need one of those? :slight_smile:

> Would be nice to have a open source coworking legal library.

> Dusty
>http://conjunctured.com

> On Sep 29, 11:51 pm, "Mike Schinkel" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> An open source working agreement would be GREAT.
>> I don't know how much I can contribute (legally), but would love to see one
>> created and will provide ideas the best I can.

>> -Mike Schinkel
>> President; NewClarity LLChttp://mikeschinkel.com

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com] On

>> Behalf Of Alex Linsker
>> Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 5:04 AM
>> To: Coworking
>> Subject: [Coworking] Re: New Work City membership agreement - version 1

>> Hi Alex,

>> I'd like to help create an open source working agreement. Although I'm not
>> a lawyer, I've worked for lawyers in relevant fields, and have written
>> employment, partnership, client and outsourcing contracts which have been
>> greenlighted by some of the best lawyers. I'm great at writing really
>> plain-language, simple, direct, easy-to-read contracts.

>> What's the next step?

>> -Alex

>> Alex Linsker
>> (646) 269-4915
>> alexl...@gmail.comwww.alexlinsker.com
>> Organizational democracy: helping people work together in companies

>> On Sep 26, 11:01 am, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> > >> wrote:
>> > To the many of you who've worked from our agreement:
>> > Ours was taken from a very generic "shared space" agreement that I
>> > found somewhere on the web. We needed something FAST, so we slightly
>> > modded the TOS that I'd found and worked from there.

>> > It's been my desire for over a year now to tone down that agreement,
>> > it's got a lot of garbage and legalese in it.

>> > If anyone is interested in working with Geoff and myself, as well as
>> > if anyone has any legal resources that could chip in, I'd love to work
>> > together to create an open source coworking agreement that covers what
>> > really needs to be covered, and cuts out all of the other crap.

>> > -Alex

>> > --
>> > -----
>> > --
>> > -----
>> > Alex Hillman
>> > im always developing something
>> > digital: a....@weknowhtml.com
>> > visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com
>> > local:www.indyhall.org

>> > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Tony Bacigalupo > >> > <[email protected]>wrote:

>> > > Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the "disparaging" or
>> > > get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection
>> > > against defamation?

>> > > Also, since the space isn't open yet, we'll be adding stipulations
>> > > that membership won't start until after the space is open, and that
>> > > the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is
>> null and void.

>> > > Anything else?

>> > > On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, patrick...@gmail.com < > >> > > [email protected]> wrote:

>> > >> > statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to
>> > >> > any third party regarding NEW

>> > >> Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out
>> > >> "disparaging" after the first round of signings, "defamation" is
>> > >> one thing but with "disparaging" in there it looks like we don't
>> > >> want to be critiqued either.

>> > >> Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple
>> > >> of local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

>> > >> Patrick
>> > >> station-c.com- Hide quoted text -

>> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

19

Hi Tony. I tried to click through to see your example but the link did not work. Would you be willing to e-mail me a copy of what you ended up with? Do you have a separate one for event rental? We are opening in Oct and hoping to shortcut some of this! Many thanks for any help you can provide. my e-mail is [email protected]

···

On Friday, September 26, 2008 at 10:58:39 AM UTC-4, Tony Bacigalupo wrote:

Agreed all around. So should we simply removed the “disparaging” or get rid of the clause altogether? Is it important to have protection against defamation?

Also, since the space isn’t open yet, we’ll be adding stipulations that membership won’t start until after the space is open, and that the space will open within a certain range of dates or the agreement is null and void.

Anything else?

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:27 AM, [email protected] [email protected] wrote:

statements or comments of a defamatory or disparaging nature to any

third party regarding NEW

Yeah, we based our contract on IH too (thanks Alex!) but took out

“disparaging” after the first round of signings, “defamation” is one

thing but with “disparaging” in there it looks like we don’t want to

be critiqued either.

Btw, if anyone opens up a space in Canada, our version has a couple of

local tweaks so feel free to ask for the file.

Patrick

station-c.com