Test 1: Infrastructures
We wanted to test whether establishing a legal architecture in synergy with governing, learning, organising and ecosystem strategy systems
What we tested
- Built a sandbox environment – a simplified version of a complex collaboration – to test the systems, including the legal architecture.
- Prototyped a contractual legal form (with the aim to not create an entity) where the funder could be a party, intending to replace the need for separate funding terms and conditions (aiming to still meet charitable obligations). Worked with funders to reduce risk of funder override of governance deep codes.
- Designed the legal architecture as part of a deeply coded wider “full stack” (governing, learning, organising and ecosystem strategy systems), laid out in a contract and a digital portal/directory. Collaborators were partly onboarded.
- Investigated the viability and limits of this legal form with tax and corporate law advisors.
- The wider systems have to date been part tested by the collaboration
What we didn’t test
- Only gave minimal attention (“just enough”) to organising, learning and ecosystem strategy, to focus on legal architecture and governance.
- Did not test legal architecture in full complexity :
- Sectors: included philanthropic and civil society actors, but not public sector or universities.
- Jurisdictions: limited to England, Scotland and Wales.
- Risks: low exposure to data, safeguarding or IP risks.
- Scale: fewer than 10 organisations involved.
- Did not stress test legal mechanisms in court, so full legal implications and interpretations remain unknown.
- Did not stress test governing mechanisms such as evolving role cards or IP registers.
- Did not fully onboard collaborators into the daily operation of the system.
Related tools:
example
Many-to-Many Agreement
Showcases the contracting approach, the deep code shifts and the legal commitments made in our Proof of Possibility.
example
Role Cards for Flexible Governance
Supports the development of flexible power, responsibility, accountability and risk-holding.
example
Legal Architecture Experiment Log
An experimenter’s log showing the key legal areas we explored and how these connect to deep code shifts.