Next, there is the legal form of a partnership. Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) have increased their popularity over the last two decades and for this reason have become a viable choice for worker cooperatives. LLPs are also good for professional groups and corporate partnerships. Based on our investigations to date, we believe that partnerships offer one key benefit and disadvantage compared to the other legal forms. The benefit is equality in the status of partners. Partnership Law mitigates the employer-employee relationship. All the other forms necessarily must engage with employment law when they take on a workforce. FairShares rules mitigate employment law effects but cannot remove the legal responsibilities of employers towards their employees. In a partnership, this distinction does not exist so partners are not subject to employment law. This enables an egalitarian member-ownership culture to develop by changing the legal framework.

The key downside, however, is the tax position of partners. They are typically treated as micro- businesses that must register individually with tax authorities. The partnership may have obligations to inform tax authorities when partners join and leave. If there is high staff turnover (as there can be with seasonal employment), this creates an administrative burden. For this reason, we recommend you consider the FairShares Partnership Rules Generator if there is a stable group of professionals working together, or - more likely - there are corporate partners with different legal structures who want to create a FairShares enterprise together. For joint ventures, partnerships could be simpler than company groups or primary/secondary coops, particularly if the number of corporate partners is stable and they value their autonomy. As each corporate partner manages its workforce outside the (legal) boundaries of the partnership, it can simplify employment relations.