Welcome to My Website

  • I currently do a little freelance legal writing, research, and consultancy as offers of work arise or as the spirit moves me.

  • I am active in Leicestershire as a lay Buddhist Meditator in the Soto Zen (Turning Wheel Buddhist Temple) and Dzogchen (Dairy Yard Centre) Traditions. 

  • In March 2023 I retired from my role as consultant solicitor with anthonycollins.com, the Birmingham and Manchester Law Firm. I worked mainly on Co-operative and Community Benefit Society Law, but I also provided wider research support on new developments, as required.

  • By 2018 I had finished my nearly 40 years of Law teaching at Manchester Metropolitan University (1975-1979) and, the University of Leicester Law School (1979-2018).

  • My most recent major writing job was for Bloomsbury Publishing on the Third Edition of Ashton and Reid on Clubs and Associations  which was published in 2020. A rattling good yarn and a snip at £95 on Amazon.co.uk

  • An updating supplement to the Handbook of Co-operative and Community Benefit Society Law has been available since April 2016

  • Download this Summary of Co-op and Community Benefit Society Law as it was late in 2014

  • Free download of Chapter_1 of the Handbook comparing available legal structures for Co-ops and Community Benefit Societies with some info on charities, CIC’s and CIO’s

  • Try the Useful Links page for co-op, law and policy sites in the UK and Continental Europe.

  • The May 2015 Draft of the Principles of European Co-operative Law (PECOL) can be found here: PECOL-May-2015 

  • Intersentia published the text of the PECOL Principles of European Cooperative Law, a Commentary on them and all the national reports which informed to development of the Principles.

  • Help yourself to a few of my old and not so old articles on co-ops free to download

  • Feedback, comments and suggestions are welcome.
  • Email me and follow me on Twitter @Cooplawman

About Me

A completely revised edition of my Handbook of Co-operative and Community Benefit Society Law was published  in September 2014 as an ebook and hardback. It was published by Co-operatives UK with Jordans (now LexisNexis) to coincide with the new consolidated Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 which came into force on 1st August 2014. I edited it and wrote it jointly with a team of colleagues from a range of organisations, including ABCUL, the FCATrowers and Hamlins, Anthony Collins Solicitors, and Capsticks. In April 2016 an updating supplement was published. When used with the book it brings the text up to date as at early 2016.

I have also worked on UK and EU Co-operative and Mutuals Law as researcher, writer and consultant. I was a member of the Study Group on European Co-operative Law (SGECOL). 

I served on the European Commission Working Group on Co-operative Legislation and was actively involved with the development, drafting and passage, by the UK Parliament, of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 2002 and the Co-operatives and Community Benefits Societies Acts 2003 and 2010.

In 2009-2010 I was the UK national expert and a member of the Scientific Committee in the preparation of a report for the European Commission “Study on the implementation of the Regulation 14352003 on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE)” and the UK National Report (at page 971). Most recently, I have helped Mutuo with the Mutuals’ Redeemable Shares Bill 2013.

I served as a member of the HM Treasury Working Groups on the reform of both Co-operative and Credit Union Law in the UK in the run up to the enactment of the 2011 LRO which updated aspects of industrial and provident society and credit union law. I currently serve on the Technical Committee of Co-operative UK and Locality‘s Community Shares Unit.

In December 2010, I completed a review of Bahrain Co-operative Law for the Co-operative College, Manchester as part of a project financed by DFID.

With colleagues Kevin Jaquiss and Cliff Mills of Cobbetts LLP (now DWF LLP), I was involved in preparing Cobbetts Advice to the FSA of March 2012 on the registration conditions for co-operatives and community benefit societies. In early 2014 I worked with the FCA as an independent consultant on the development of Guidance in the light of consultation responses on that Advice. A final version is due out in Autumn 2014.

I wrote the UK Chapter for the International Handbook on Co-operative Law and the WestlawUK Insight article on industrial and provident societies. I was also involved with the organisation of the SGECOL Seminar on Co-operative law in Europe at Co-operatives United in Manchester in November 2012.

I lead the governance stage of SGECOL’s project to develop Principles of European Co-operative Law (PECOL) as a publication. In 2017, Intersentia published the text of the PECOL Principles of European Cooperative Law, a full Commentary on them and all the national reports which informed to development of the Principles.

From June to September 2014 I worked through DWF LLP with the Co-operative Group on the reform of its governance system.

In my “spare time” I am a practising Buddhist, a member of both the Labour and Co-operative Parties with Left Libertarian tendencies and a supporter of  Sustainable Harborough.

I live in Leicestershire and am a husband, father and grandfather.

© Ian Snaith 2014-2023 This work is licensed under theCreative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

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