AN ONLINE conference for lawyers, accountants, business builders, and cooperators on September 23, 2025
Explore the intersection of law and cooperative development with national and regional experts! This year’s theme, “Celebrating the International Year of Cooperatives,” will focus on cooperative solutions and challenges. If you’re interested in social enterprise, community ownership, or alternative enterprises, this conference is for you! Open to experienced cooperators as well as those new to cooperative enterprise.
Registration Fees
$90 - September 23, 2025
If you require an accommodation, such as translation, to participate in this event, please share your request upon registration or contact Ann Luther at luther.111@osu.edu or 740-289-1952. Requests made two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
Partners
The conference is organized by a collaborative group of developers and practitioners. Special thank you to Jacqueline Radebaugh, Mike Russell, Meegan Moriarty, Bill Scott, Annelies Lottmann, Dave Antoni, Todd Eskelsen, and Melissa Will.
Continuing Legal Education
Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, on behalf of the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aids, has applied to the Supreme Court of Ohio for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit for Ohio attorneys attending the Virtual Cooperative Law Conference. There will be 5 hours of general CLE credit available for the conference, pending approval. To receive CLE credit for this virtual event, Ohio attorneys must be actively participating which will be verified with polling questions and completing an online survey at the end of the training.
Attorneys from other states and other professionals (paralegals, social workers, etc.) seeking accreditation for attendance must apply for credit on their own. They will receive a certificate indicating the total hours they attended, and they will have the conference agenda and materials to support their individual applications.
Location
The Virtual Cooperative Law Conference will take place online via Zoom. Participants can join via the Zoom application on a computer or mobile device or by telephone. Registered participants will receive Zoom connection information via email prior to the conference. We recommend logging in a few minutes early!
Agenda
*Agenda is subject to change.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025: Foundations of Co-op Business for Lawyers, Accountants, and Developers – Learning the Nuts and Bolts to Build your Toolbox
11 a.m. – Noon - Pre-Conference Session: "Co-ops 101 For Legal Practitioners," Hannah Scott, JD
What is a cooperative? As mutually-owned, democratically-controlled businesses, cooperatives can take many forms and work in a variety of sectors. This session will introduce practitioners to the cooperative model as a legal framework for business, including key characteristics, legal foundations and forms, and examples of cooperatives being implemented in communities!
1 p.m. - Welcome & Virtual Cooperative Law Conference Kickoff
1:30 p.m. - "Building your Legal Structure Toolbox: When to Use a Co-op and for What Purposes," Todd Eskelsen, Esq., and Jacqueline Radebaugh, Esq., with moderator Hannah Scott, JD
As interest in democratic ownership and social enterprise models grow, attorneys and accountants will be called upon to advise clients on cooperative structures. This session provides a practical overview of the cooperative legal model—its statutory foundations, organizing and operating implications, and strategic use cases. Learn when a co-op is the optimal choice for groups ranging from startups to community enterprises, and the various entity types for accomplishing cooperative ownership. Whether clients want to launch a new venture or restructure an existing enterprise, this panel presentation is designed for attorneys, accountants, and developers who want to expand their entity formation toolkit and gain practical insights to help determine if a co-op is the right tool for an enterprise.
2:35 p.m. - "What You Need to Know about Co-op Taxation," Dave Antoni, CPA and Bill Scott, CPA
Businesses that use a cooperative model have unique financial structures and tax treatment. Understanding cooperative taxation can inform many aspects of starting and growing a co-op, from considerations about patronage systems to member and non-member income, and more. Learn what you need to know about cooperative taxation, including the basics of Subchapter T of the Internal Revenue Code, from experienced cooperative accountants in this session designed to help professionals deepen their expertise in cooperative taxation.
3:35 p.m. – "Raising Capital and Managing Equity in a Co-op," Todd Eskelsen, Esq.
Cooperatives face unique hurdles to raising capital. Whether they plan to use member stock or fees, member loans, preferred stock offerings, or other tools, sufficient capitalization is as vital for cooperatives as other businesses. This session will explore legal considerations and practical strategies for cooperatives to raise capital and manage equity as they start and grow. Attorneys, accountants, and developers will gain insight into securities law considerations, governance implications, and compliance challenges unique to cooperative capitalization in this presentation from an experienced cooperative attorney.
4:35 p.m. - "Legal Mechanics of Converting a Business to a Worker Co-op," Jacqueline Radebaugh, Esq.
As business owners reach retirement age, some may face challenges planning for the next phase of their business. Conversion to a worker-owned cooperative may be one avenue to keep a business operating, workers employed, and impact flowing to the community. However, converting an existing business to a worker cooperative involves legal, financial, and governance considerations. In this session, experienced cooperative attorneys will dive into the nuts and bolts of cooperative conversions—from due diligence and valuation to entity restructuring or design, financing, and drafting governance and other internal documents.
5:35 – Closing Comments
Speaker Bios
Dave Antoni, CPA – National Tax Managing Director, Baker Tilly
Dave provides technical expertise in taxation of Cooperatives and ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes. Serving in the Food, Beverage, and Agribusiness Practice, Dave provides tax consulting, compliance, and audit tax provision services for our cooperative and non-cooperative enterprises clients on a national basis. Dave has significant experience in the application of ASC 740 to Cooperatives and non-cooperative private and public company enterprises. He has extensive experience with inbound and outbound multi-national companies and coordinates service delivery building client service teams of specialists including accounting methods, tax credit services, compensation and benefits, international tax, M&A, state and local tax, valuations, and transfer pricing services. Dave works with management and boards on tax cooperative considerations for capital planning and bylaws provisions, private letter rulings, and advises cooperatives on tax issues such as IRC §199A(g), §163(j), application of new tax legislation including the Pillar 2 global minimum tax and tax accounting methods. Dave’s professional accounting experience with Baker Tilly and previously with KPMG spans over 39 years and 35 years serving cooperatives as a focus area. Dave holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (cum laude) from La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he concentrated in Accounting and Computer Science and was a member of the Beta Alpha Accounting Society. Dave also has completed several graduate level tax courses in Villanova University School of Law’s Master of Science in Taxation program. Dave is a Past National President of the National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives (NSAC), NSAC Executive Committee Member, Past National Board Member of NSAC’s Atlantic Chapter and serves as Immediate Past Chair and Member of its National Tax Committee. He is also a Member of the Legal, Tax & Accounting (LTA) Committee of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), has served as Past Chair and Member of LTA’s Executive Committee. Dave also serves as a Vice-Chair of the LTA Reporting Subcommittee on Overview of New Tax, Other Legislation and Implementation Issues Affecting Farmer Cooperatives. He is a member of the American Institutes of Certified Public Accountants. Dave is a frequent speaker concerning tax issues related to cooperatives at annual meetings of NCFC and the NSAC and contributes articles to the Tax Fax Column of NSAC’s The Cooperative Accountant publication. Dave co-hosts the annual Baker Tilly Agribusiness Cooperative Roundtable.
Todd Eskelsen, Esq. – Partner, Eskelsen Law Group, LLC
Todd empowers clients to approach change and growth with confidence by helping them build effective business infrastructures. Whether representing clients from agriculture, food processing, security services and other industries in corporate governance or strategic and operational issues, Todd delivers the right legal resources. Rather than create adversarial environments, Todd works to align interests for mutually successful results by integrating practical legal analysis with successful business strategies. Todd is a trusted advisor to businesses, especially purchasing and marketing cooperatives, in transactional and securities-related matters that range from mergers and acquisitions to financings and day-to-day operations. While clients often initially consult Todd on a single matter, they frequently end up establishing long-term relationships by returning for other business and legal advice. Todd has been active for more than 35 years with the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and the National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives, serving in many leadership positions. Todd is an active presenter at cooperative conferences and is the Reporter and a major contributor for NCFC’s Sample Bylaws Project, a two-volume publication of sample Bylaws text with related commentary.
Jared Kempel - Senior Manager, Baker Tilly
Jared is a senior manager with the manufacturing and distribution team at BakerTilly and has been with the firm since 2015. Jared specializes in providing tax and accounting services to agribusiness and cooperative clients. Before joining Baker Tilly, Jared held accounting internships with two agribusiness companies: John Deere US and Kuhn North America (Farm Equipment).
Jacqueline Radebaugh, Esq. – Partner & Shareholder, Jason Wiener p.c.
With more than 15 years in the legal sector, Jacqueline has practiced law in Brazil, France, and in the United States, developing expertise in a broad range of for-profit (small up to Global Fortune 500) and non-profit transactional legal needs. From representing under-represented and under-served groups, to partnering with funders and investors, Jacqueline collaborates with business developers and coop incubators, and instigates conversations about community land trusts, cooperatives, DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), and other shared equity ownership models, to support community development strategies that seek lasting, transformational benefits to the local communities. Passionate about education, she founded in 2018 the Biennial Cooperative Law Conference, in Ohio, where, with the support of the Center for Cooperative Development of the CFAES OSU, she gathers sector experts and practitioners to learn from each other’s experiences. Since joining the firm, Jacqueline has spearheaded the firm’s Web3 practice group, notably supporting DAOs to design their entity structure and governance and adopting the cooperative legal model. She represents the first ever DAO cooperative in collaboration with Yev Muchnik, and presents many more, along with a number of startup disruptors. Outside of the office, Jacqueline is a pickleball aficionado, is engaged in a variety of community projects, and plans most of her vacations around hikes with friends and family.
Bill Scott, CPA – Principal, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
Bill is a Principal in the Ag, Food and Beverage (AFB) industry group specializing in tax planning and compliance. With over 13 years of experience at CLA, he serves as the Western Ohio office AFB industry group leader. Industry practice areas include cooperatives, producers, and manufacturing and distribution. Bill is a leader on CLA's national cooperative tax team and leads monthly team calls to discuss cooperative related tax topics. Bill is a frequent speaker on tax reform and other tax related topics, including industry-specific conference breakout sessions and seminars. Bill holds a Master of Science in Accounting from University of Toledo and is active with Ohio Agribusiness Association, Michigan Agribusiness Association, National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives (NSAC), Ohio Cattlemen's Association, and Ohio Pork Council.
Hannah Scott, JD – Prorgram Director, CFAES Center for Cooperatives
Hannah Scott is the program director of the CFAES Center for Cooperatives based at Ohio State University South Centers where she leads the creation and implementation of programs and assistance to foster cooperative and rural business. Hannah is passionate about cooperative opportunities in agriculture and rural communities having worked with a variety of agricultural producers who have explored or established co-op enterprises, provided training for cooperative employees and leaders, and led initiatives to educate and build awareness around the cooperative business model and rural business development, including co-authoring cooperative outreach and legal education materials. Hannah earned her bachelor’s degree from Duke University, master’s degree from The Ohio State University, and law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. She holds a Certified Business Advisor Certificate through Kent State University/Ohio Small Business Development Centers.