The European Social Enterprise Law Association, which will be known as ‘ESELA’, is a new international network of law firms, legal experts and academics specialising in all aspects of the law as it applies to social enterprise. Its aim is to promote a better understanding of the relationship between law and social enterprise, with a view to supporting the development and growth of social enterprise across Europe.
Members of the ESELA network have already worked together to co-author a ground-breaking new report, 'Social Enterprise in Europe', which sets out recommendations for national governments and other policymakers.
The report includes the recommendations that "No effort be expended trying to create a pan-European social enterprise legal form, each European country be supported to develop a supportive legal environment, and barriers to social enterprise growth should be removed".
“An exciting result of this ground-breaking research is that it has led to the creation of a new European network of social enterprise lawyers, legal experts and others with a strong interest in the relationship between law and social enterprise: the European Social Enterprise Law Association. This new association has the potential to be an important source of knowledge and expertise that can share good practice, help Member States learn from each other and make recommendations about the effect of EU-wide laws and policies on social enterprises.”
Luke Fletcher, the Chair of ESELA and one of the authors of Social Enterprise in Europe, explained that “Legal frameworks play a fundamental part in any ecosystem for social entrepreneurship. They can help to make it relatively straight forward to start-up and grow a social enterprise and raise the visibility of this way of doing business or they can hold people back, forcing entrepreneurs to spend time and effort looking for ways around barriers imposed by the legal system. The launch of ESELA provides an opportunity for anyone interested to learn more about the relationship between law and social enterprise. ESELA will also help governments and policymakers to design sound legal systems which support the growth of social enterprise.”
Milan firm R & P Legal represented by the lawyer Roberto Randazzo is a founding member of the European Social Enterprise Law Association
Membership of the association is open to all and will bring with it access to a network of social enterprise legal experts and a range of related social enterprise legal resources and know-how.
The launch event is taking place at the European Venture Philanthropy Association's annual conference in Madrid, in the company of social enterprise leaders and advisers from across Europe.
Photo Credits: Getty Images
