ABSTRACT: Dissecting the Consortium: a Uniquely Flexible Platform for Collaboration

Andrew Updegrove, Partner, Gesmer Updegrove LLP

3/22/2010
(Original Publish Date: 2/1/2010)

The opportunities and imperatives for collaborative action of all kinds among both for-profit and non-profit entities are growing as the world becomes more interconnected and problem solving becomes less susceptible to unilateral action. Those activities include research and development, information acquisition and sharing, group purchasing, open source software and content creation, applying for government grant funding, and much more. At the same time, the rapid spread of Internet and Web accessibility allows collaborative activities to be undertaken more easily, and among more widely distributed participants, than has ever been possible before. But while the technology enabling collaboration has become ubiquitous, hard-won knowledge regarding best practices, successful governance structures, and appropriate legal frameworks for forming and managing successful collaborative activities has yet to be widely shared. As a result, those wishing to launch new collaborative projects may have difficulty finding reliable guidance in order to create structures appropriate to support their activities. In this article, I provide a list of attributes that define and functions that are common to consortia, an overview of how their activities are typically staffed and supported, a comparative taxonomy of the existing legal/governance structures that have been created to address them, and an overview of the legal concerns which consortium founders need to address.