Linda Phillips

Senior Of Counsel

Linda Phillips

A thriving small business community is vital to the health of any society and I believe in providing small businesses legal options that will best suit their particular industries and missions.

Linda Phillips (she/her)
Denver, CO
(303) 520-9944

linda@jrwiener.com
Read Linda’s blog here
Jason Wiener on Twitter


Linda Phillips was born in Nurnberg, Germany to an American military family. Her Dad was a West Point graduate and her Grandfather was an army/air corps Colonel at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Linda’s Mom is a photographer and artist and Linda has two brothers with families in Texas and Florida. Linda has lived all over the United States (5 grade schools, 4 high schools, including 2 American schools in Germany), but she calls Colorado home as she has lived here over half of her life—mostly in Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver. Even though she lives in mountain country, her passion is the ocean and she is an avid scuba diver and advocate for maintaining the health of the world’s oceans. She also enjoys creative pottery, reading, gardening and any type of national or international travel.

Prior to working in the law, Linda gained business experience while working in advertising/marketing, banking and commercial property management in California and in Colorado. She was co-owner of a marketing business in California, helping small businesses learn to conduct their own advertising and marketing campaigns. Linda returned in Colorado in 1984 and after working in banking for several years, she earned a certificate from Denver Paralegal Institute in 1991, beginning her career in the legal industry. Utilizing her background in business and business law, Linda has worked for many industries, including agriculture, telecommunications, banking, retail, wholesale, small business, nonprofit entities and service companies. Through her training as a paralegal for James B. Dean, Esq., Linda learned about the special legal and management needs of cooperatives and the business model’s unique ability to bring people together for purposes other than investment. After becoming an attorney, Linda has continued working with small- and medium-sized businesses and has helped create worker cooperatives, purchasing coops, retail multi-stakeholder coops and many others.


Sectors

  • Agricultural
    • producers
    • CSAs
    • cooperatives
  • Independent purchasing cooperatives
    • packaging
    • boat building
    • craft brewing
    • bearing/power transmission distributors
    • golf ball divers

Learn more about our community

  • Rural telecommunications
  • Retail, including multi-stakeholder organizations
  • Nonprofits
  • Solar and renewable energy
  • Physician cooperatives
  • Mental health cooperative
  • Employee ownership
  • Consulting and professional services

Practice Areas

Business Organizations

  • Entity formations
  • Corporations
  • Limited liability companies
  • Partnership

Cooperatives

  • Formation and general counsel services for purchasing, marketing, producer, consumer and worker cooperatives
  • How to start a cooperative
  • Business planning for cooperatives
  • Converting your business to a cooperative
  • Succession planning using cooperatives
  • Creative financing and funding for cooperatives

General Business Law

  • Business Consultations
  • Financing Options
  • Purchases/Sales
  • Services/General Contracts
  • Commercial Collections
  • Legal Audits

Learn more about our services

Employment Law

  • Defend EEOC/DOL Claims
  • Review/Draft Personnel Handbooks
  • Policies and Procedures
  • Management Contracts

Rural Telecommunications

  • Contracts
  • Pole Attachments
  • Easements/Rights of way
  • Customer Agreements
  • Equipment Purchases/Leases

Real Estate

  • Commercial Contracts/Closings
  • Acquisitions and Dispositions
  • Easements, Rights of Way
  • Commercial Leasing

Education

J.D., University of Denver, Sturm College of Law

B.S., University of Colorado—Boulder and Regis University (Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude)

Denver Paralegal Institute – Paralegal Certificate (1991)

Honors & Awards

Philanthropic Leadership Award from The Denver Foundation (2017)

Award for commitment and dedication to employee ownership from the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center (2011)

Bar Admissions

Colorado – 2004


Speaking Engagements

  • Speaker on governance and tax issues for cooperatives at the inaugural Cooperative Professionals Association Conference in Denver, CO (2014)
  • Panelist to a group of Native Americans regarding cooperatives, sponsored by the Democracy Collaborative and the Northwest Area Foundation for their Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building (2013)
  • Numerous presentations to groups interested in employee ownership, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center (2011 through 2017)

Publications

  • Practitioner’s Guide to CO Business Organizations, Third Edition, Chapter 15 (on Cooperatives), with Jason R. Wiener (2017).
  • USDA Rural Cooperatives Magazine, Colorado is Fertile Ground for Co-op Development and Conversions (Sept./Oct. 2016).
  • The Colorado Lawyer, Worker Cooperatives: Their Time Has Arrived (Sept. 2011, p.33).
  • The Colorado Lawyer, Long-term Care Ombudsman Records: Confidentiality for The Frail and Vulnerable; with Valerie Corzine (Nov. 2002, p. 73).
  • Colorado Bar Association’s Western Agricultural and Rural Law Roundup entitled: Selected Current Issues and Considerations Relating to Agricultural Employment, with James B. Dean (1993).