🎓Legal Council

This page explains the role and constitution of Legal Council, appointed by a Council Vote of the Open Council.

The role of the Legal Council is to advise the Open Constitution network on legally protecting the Foundation's activities.

The members of the Legal Council work with the following guidelines:

Meetings:

1. The Legal Council members shall meet the Executive Council on an ongoing basis: Generally recorded on a monthly basis through an electronic meeting with the Executive Council, either exclusively or through Open Convention.

1.2 When recorded through the member’s presence in the Foundation’s monthly Council meetings, or

1.3 When participating through the Independent Board's private mailing list on any Council vote, at least once a month.

Legal Council plays a central role in publishing, advancing and promoting the Foundation's advocacy of its guiding principles. Therefore, a vote of confidence may be scheduled to register the attendance of the Legal Council members.

2. The Legal Council members may choose to meet the Executive Council or other members through an electronic meeting, in addition to the monthly Council meetings, to contribute to their roles and responsibilities.

3. The Legal Council can convene an electronic meeting, inviting all the Open Council members or all the Foundation's members, to conduct an independent legal audit and review of the Foundation’s initiatives.

The meeting minutes from any convened “Legal Council meeting” shall be released to the Executive Council within 14 days of the meeting.

The Executive Council reserves the right to reject or release the meeting minutes and documented reviews of this council to the members of the Foundation.

Open Constitution Governance Framework:

4. The Open Constitution network runs itself with a decentralised open governance system. Each open governance decision shall be recorded on the Open Constitution ledger.

Legal Council works with all the Open Council bodies concerning the Foundation’s legal frameworks and representations.

The Executive Council ratifies the Legal Council’s Resolutions.

The Independent Board then ensures ratification of any amendments to this constitution, governance and steering of the Foundation, based on Executive Counsel’s public reports.

The chair of the Legal Council may also get elected to an Open Tribunal, registered on the Open Constitution Governance System for arbitrations between disputing members of the Foundation.

Consideration:

5. Appointment to this Legal Council is pro bono and voluntary. Appointments are generally made for an election period of at least 1 year and almost 3 years.

Appointment, Nomination, Removal and Resignation:

Appointment:

6.1 Nomination: The following members can officially nominate an existing member of the Foundation to the Legal Council:

6.1 a. An elected member of the Executive Council of the Advisory Council or the Legal Council.

6.1 b. A non-Council member can also request a nomination, in the form of a community proposal. The Nomination action shall be officially initiated by the only members mentioned in above 6.1 “a”.

6.2 Self-nomination by (an already elected) member of one of the bodies of the Open Council for his/her/their appointment to the Legal Council is not acceptable.

Self-nomination by an existing non-Council member of the Foundation, for his/her/their appointment to the Legal Council is not acceptable. Please read more. 6.3 Once the nomination is accepted by the Nominee, the Nominee or the member nominating the nominee, shall file supporting information such as the and nominee's literature, publications, demonstration of social activities on the Foundation's Membership Registry.

A Council Resolution "Vote IN" is then scheduled on the Council's mailing list.

6.4 Appointment to the Legal Council is published on the public-facing records of the Muellners Foundation.

Removal:

7.1 Members of the Executive Council of the Legal Council or the Advisory Council can only officially nominate the removal of a member from the Legal Council.

7.2 Open Council Resolution - Vote OUT" is considered to be active on the Open Constitution system, once it is initiated on the Council’s private mailing list.

A strong reason for violation of Muellners Foundation’s governing policies and directives must be provided by member(s) initiating the resolution, to support the Council resolution “Vote OUT”.

7.3 Community Referendum: The final removal of a member from the Legal Council is subject to a community referendum on the passed Council resolution “Vote OUT”, stated in 7.1 & 7.2 above.

8. A member may serve on more than one Open Council body. Each Council body membership reserves additional voting rights.

If a member happens to serve on two Open Council bodies, then this effectively means that two votes are counted for the same member for the Foundation’s Council-based decision proceedings, including but not limited to the governing protocols for the appointment of members or their removal to the Open Council.

Resignation:

9. A member's self-resignation from the Legal Council is a voluntary action. A member may resign from the Legal Council by stating the reasons for resignation. The announcement of resignation can be done via electronic email on the Council's mailing list.

Miscellaneous:

10. The Independent Board reserves the right to update the terms and conditions, and statutes from time to time, in compliance with the existing rules and regulations of the association, including reserving the right to terminate the appointment to this Council at any time, without notice and the due electoral process of removal, in the following scenario:

If the member is found convicted of criminal, civil and financial crimes, in any court of competent jurisdiction, across the world, where the Foundation has an active presence, either through a legal body representation or an affiliate network.

Read more on the guiding principles & diversity statement of the Foundation here.

Read more about the Foundation’s Code of Conduct here.

11. The statutes of the Foundation and terms and conditions governing its functioning can be found here. The Independent Board reserves the right to dissolve the whole Legal Council and initiate the constitution of a new Legal Council.

12. The Foundation members communicate via cryptographic electronic communications systems and technology tools. In connection with the electronic meetings convened by members of this council, the Foundation’s IT infrastructure shall be used.

If the meeting took place outside the Foundation’s communications infrastructure, then the meeting minutes must be brought back to the notice of the Executive Council.

Custodian: Election Council

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