Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers Directory 2022/23

Welcome to the 3rd Edition of the Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers 2022/2023 published by Cannabis Law Report.

We have compiled, the lawyers and law firms we believe, to be the top 200 cannabis practitioners & practices around the world via our annual survey of clients and lawyers in the cannabis legal services sector as well as our personal editorial decisions based on our reporting of the industry on a daily basis for the past six years… Read More

Thank you, Sean Hocking – Editor: The Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers

Contact Sean

Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers – Plus 2022/2023

Samantha Gleit – Feuerstein Kulick

Samantha Gleit is a partner at Feuerstein Kulick, focusing on debt financing in the legal cannabis industry, and leading the firm’s debt finance practice. Throughout her career, Samantha has advised institutional and alternative investors on distressed debt and high-risk lending. Samantha has structured many of the largest secured debt facilities in the cannabis industry, and has advised on more than $1 billion of investments to plant-touching and ancillary companies. She ...
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Paul-Michael Keichel – Cullinan & Associates and Founder and Director of Greenhouse Project

Paul-Michael (“PM”) has been admitted as an Attorney of the High Court, South Africa, with right of appearance, since 2013, when he accepted the brief of the now-famous “Dagga Couple” to assist them in decriminalising cannabis use, possession and trade in the country. Apart from this landmark human rights work, he continued to practice as a general and commercial litigator for Schindlers Attorneys in Johannesburg, until his departure in 2021. He now ...
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Neil Willner – Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld

Neil M. Willner is Co-chair of the Cannabis Group. He focuses his practice on the cannabis industry and provides counsel to hemp and marijuana companies across all parts of the supply chain on regulatory and compliance issues. Neil also handles regulatory compliance, investigatory due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, and litigation matters for firm clients. He advises buyers and sellers on regulatory considerations in mergers and acquisitions in many East Coast ...
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Rod Kight – Kight on Cannabis

Rod is a cannabis business law attorney. Based in North Carolina and Mexico, Rod represents legal cannabis businesses throughout the world and is editor and chief writer of the Kight On Cannabis law blog (www.kightoncannabis.com). Rod is the author of “Cannabis Business Law-What You Need to Know”, published by Aspatore Books in August 2015. He has served on the advisory board and written a legal column for the American Journal ...
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Dylan Kennett – DLA Piper

Dylan is a Senior Associate in the London Corporate department of DLA Piper. He has deep expertise in venture capital, as well as domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions and private equity transactions. He is a trusted advisor for fast growing companies and helping them ‘go global’. His practice encompasses the cannabis, life sciences, technology, media and sport sectors. Dylan is Co-Head of DLA Piper’s Global Cannabis Practice. The practice ...
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Ryan P. McGuire – Huguenin Kahn LLP

Ryan McGuire is passionate in his pursuit of the best possible outcome for his clients in a wide-range of litigation and business objectives. In Ryan’s career as a litigator, for both plaintiffs and defendants, he has handled a variety of different kinds of cases in all stages of litigation, from pre-litigation settlement negotiation through trial. Ryan has successfully resolved matters involving personal injury claims, construction defect actions, contract disputes, employment ...
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Michael Drumke – Swanson Martin & Bell

Michael focuses his practice on trials involving complex business litigation matters, including toxic tort, product liability, pharmaceutical, class action and commercial litigation. He serves as co-chair of the firm’s Cannabis Law Practice Group. He has represented clients in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Alabama, Washington, Oregon, California, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He serves ...
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Dr Paul Crosio – Silk Legal

Paul is a highly experienced legal practitioner who specializes in corporate, labor, and administrative law. Over the past 25 years, Paul has been based in a number of countries across the Asia-Pacific region and has worked with a variety of different multinational corporations including Emerald Advisory LLC, MCI-Worldcom, Citibank, Telstra International, and LG-Philips Electronics, among others. Paul holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Technology in Sydney, ...
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Peter Homberg – Dentons

Peter Homberg is a partner in the Dentons Berlin office. He focuses on life sciences, IP, corporate law and M&A transactions in the life sciences and high-tech sector as well as in R&D and cooperation agreements, cross-border IP licensing and IP strategies. Furthermore, he has extensive experience providing legal advice on compliance issues. Additionally, he is the head of the European Cannabis sector group. Peter advises companies in the pharmaceutical, ...
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Dr. Atthachai Homhuan – Tilleke & Gibbins

As director of the regulatory affairs department at Tilleke & Gibbins, Dr. Atthachai Homhuan leads the firm’s cannabis team. He helps agriculture, life sciences, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, cosmetics and herbal products, and cannabis clinic and dispensary companies understand Thailand’s ongoing legal reforms for cannabis business activities, and advises some of the world’s leading cannabis companies on a wide range of business operations and strategy for product registrations, technology transfer, ...
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David Feder – Weed Law

I'm a New York and New Jersey licensed business and litigation attorney assisting clients with transactions, start ups, contracts, dispute resolution and virtually all areas of the cannabis industry, including securing competitive business licenses. Since 2010 I have represented clients involved in complex lawsuits, transactions, business partnerships and acquisitions. I solve challenging problems and manage complex projects independently or as part of teams with other c-level executives, attorneys and/or other ...
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Gary Kaminsky – Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld

Gary S. Kaminsky has over 35 years of experience in legal regulatory compliance, including the past six years in the cannabis industry. He focuses his practice on developing and implementing regulatory enterprise risk management infrastructure for companies investing and operating in the cannabis industry as well as for asset management companies, broker-dealers, and other financial institutions. Most recently, Gary has advised U.S. multi-state operators and other companies across the supply ...
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Charles Wern – Jones & Keller

Charles specializes in the areas of tax planning and business transactions. He has extensive tax planning expertise with respect to partnerships/LLCs, C and S corporations, and individual income tax rules, as well as dealing with complex transactional tax issues in connection with mergers/acquisitions and other business transactions. He has served as tax and transactional counsel to clients, law firms, and accountants in connection with business formations, operations, sales/purchases of assets ...
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David Feldman – Feldman Legal Advisors

David N. Feldman concentrates his law practice on corporate and securities law and mergers and acquisitions, as well as general representation of public and private companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and private equity and venture capital firms. David has represented a wide range of clients in the legal cannabis and psychedelics industries since 2013. He provides guidance on private placements, public offerings, loan structuring and fund formation for cannabis companies, as well ...
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Jason P. Tortorici – Schilleci & Tortorici, P.C.

Schilleci & Tortorici, P.C. is a law firm designed with the goal of personal service and attention to the needs of its clients in the 21st Century. The firm focuses on representing businesses and their owners in matters related to business formation advice, transactions, service contracts, insurance and litigation. Our clients include companies in the dietary supplement, food/beverage, CBD/hemp, health and fitness, modeling and music and motion picture entertainment industries ...
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Sarah Lee – Gossett Parrish

Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish (www.slgparrishlaw.com) is a third-generation attorney. She has achieved Martindale-Hubbel’s highest AV Preeminent™ rating for peer and judicial review, and has been selected to the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™. The National Law Journal named Sarah Lee one of its 2019 Cannabis Trailblazers, and her law firm was voted the Top Cannabis Business Law Firm in the State of Oklahoma in The Journal Record’s 2020 and 2021 ...
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Christopher Young – Gravis Law

Chris was reared in Great Falls in the Big Sky State. He matriculated at Carleton College in Minnesota where he earned a BA in Comparative Religion in 1987. More importantly, he met his future wife there. After stints in Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, he started law school in 1997 at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2001. He spent the ...
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Richard Y. Cheng – Weaver Johnston Nelson, PLLC

Richard developed a cannabis regulatory and corporate practice starting in late 2013, after practicing as a healthcare regulatory and corporate attorney since 2006. As a leading cannabis attorney, Richard served as outside general counsel to the Texas Cannabis Industry Association, co-authored an American Health Law Association book titled “Health Care and the Business of Cannabis” and co-authored a FDA primer in preparation for the 2019 FDA public hearing on CBD ...
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Susan Burns – S Burns Legal PLLC

Susan Burns is a business lawyer who specializes in guiding businesses using steady or rapid growth strategies depending on their needs. Her practice serves various industries from service providers, microbiology consultants, and tech startups, to innovative industries such as sustainable food businesses and cannabis farmers and sellers. Susan functions as the on-call business partner to her clients.. As general counsel and strategic business advisor she finds creative solutions to unexpected ...
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Shannett Thompson – Kingsley Napley LLP

Shannett Thompson is a Partner in the Regulatory team at Kingsley Napley LLP. She acts for health and social care professionals involved in regulatory proceedings, including representing doctors in respect of investigations by the GMC. She also advises healthcare businesses and care home providers on their regulatory obligations. She is one of the firm’s experts on cannabis regulation and private prosecutions. Cases Advised a start-up company in relation to obtaining ...
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Lisa L. Pittman, Esq Pittman Legal

Lisa Pittman focuses on litigation, regulatory compliance, and corporate matters. Throughout Ms. Pittman’s 25-year career, she has litigated and tried disputes relating to labor & employment, breach of contract, commercial banking, fraud, fiduciary duty, construction defect and injury, deceptive trade practices, premises liability, professional liability, and products liability. She also possesses extensive expertise in complex commercial insurance coverage matters, having both defended insurance companies and advocated for policy holders in ...
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Neil M. Kaufman – Kaufman McGowan PLLC

Neil M. Kaufman, is the managing member of Kaufman McGowan PLLC, Corporate & Securities Counsel to the State-Legal Cannabis Industry™ and one of the leading corporate cannabis law firms in New York and the USA. He combines over 35 years of practicing corporate and securities law at the highest levels with 7+ years of extensive cannabis industry experience. Mr. Kaufman represents a wide variety of cannabis companies (including several of ...
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Steven F. Groce

Member of the Missouri Bar, the Texas Bar, and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court Juries Doctorate (JD) Law, University of Missouri, at Kansas City - Graduated 1984 38 years Experience in Criminal Defense. Practice primarily devoted to DWI (Alcohol and/or Drug) Intoxication, including Cannabis; and also Defending all Cannabis related cases, for Possession, Cultivation, Distribution, etc. Consulting for both the Legal Cannabis Industry and Proposed Cannabis businesses, ...
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Med Brazão – Nelber Chaves Advocacia

Med is a cannabis business law attorney based in Brazil. He is a founder and the managing partner of Med Brazão Advocacia e Consultoria, a firm specialized in civil litigation and labor law as well as on regulatory matters in the cannabis industry. Prior to that, Med worked as International Of Counsel to Hoban Law Group, rendereding legal advice to international clients on the Brazilian legislation, helping them to navigate ...
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Tom Zuber – Zuber Lawler LLP

Tom Zuber is a founder and the Managing Partner of Zuber Lawler. Zuber Lawler represents clients throughout the world from offices in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Silicon Valley. Zuber Lawler represents clients most often on the areas of M&A, finance and other deals; IPOs; intellectual property; FDA, import/export, bankruptcy, and other regulatory work; and litigation and investigations. Zuber Lawler’s attorneys work in languages covering 90% ...
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Donald E. Gies, III – Gies Law Firm

Donald E. Gies, III is an Oklahoma licensed attorney, focusing primarily on cannabis law - representing hundreds of patients, growers, processors, and dispensaries in a range of matters across the state. Donald formed Gies Law Firm in the back of a dispensary in a storage room and quickly expanded t o several attorneys with multiple office locations by parlaying his extensive experience within San Francisco Bay area medical marijuana industry ...
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Laura Cardeño

Laura Cardeño has been working in cannabis practice. She specializes in contracts and is a magister in commercial law, with knowledge in regulatory matters in the cannabis industry and advises investors, start-ups, and vertically integrated companies throughout the value chain. Before on board the cannabis industry, she gained over 11 years of experience in developing infrastructure and agroindustry projects in sectors such as oil, gas, and biofuels on base sugar ...
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Nicola Finnerty – Kingsley Napley

Nicola is a leading criminal defence expert in white collar and business crime, general criminal defence, and proceeds of crime and asset forfeiture. Nicola advises corporates and individuals (both in the UK and overseas) on cannabis investment in particular in respect of the UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 White Collar Crime, Business Crime, Fraud and Investigations Over the last 25 years she has been involved in many of the ...
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Heidi Urness – McGlinchey

Heidi Urness has developed a national reputation as a skillful, tenacious, and results-focused attorney for successfully representing and advising a wide range of marijuana and hemp companies, licensees, investors, and more. Born and raised in Chicago, Heidi attended Wake Forest University and the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she won awards for both outstanding writing and oral argument skills. Upon graduation, Heidi cut her teeth in the Superior and ...
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Efraín López Amarís – Árpez Company

Efraín López Amarís is the director of Árpez Company, an enterprise that develops consultancies in cannabis industries and scientific research about the same subject for the public and private sectors in Colombia, Ecuador an Brasil. Currently, some of its clients are the Colombian-German FoliuMed, The Herb Colombia, Medikali, Medikando Green, Agroindustrias Yorky and, in Ecuador, Medikali Equinoccio. López is a lawyer with specialization degree in Administrative Law from the Del ...
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Bob Hoban – Clark Hill

Robert Hoban is a corporate and M&A attorney, who sits at the center of the world’s largest commercial cannabis industry network. He is a leader of Clark Hill’s AmLaw-leading Cannabis Industry Group. As the cannabis industry commercialized, Bob has been widely credited for creating the class of lawyers now known as “cannabis attorneys.” He has truly transcended the practice of law and is regularly involved in assembling and structuring large-scale ...
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Kai-Friedrich Niermann

Kai has been a business and corporate lawyer in Germany since 2003, gaining wide range of experiences in the process. He is very familiar with the interconnectivity between national and European regulations, especially in regard to consumer protection, product safety and emerging new cannabis products. He has engaged in advocacy relating to cannabis beginning in early stages of his studies at Philipps University Marburg when the German Supreme Court ruled ...
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Pamela Bubb – Webber Newdigate Attorneys

Pamela Bubb is a partner and head of the Corporate and Commercial Department of Webber Newdigate Attorneys in Lesotho. Pamela focuses on commercial law and has a keen interest in cannabis matters. She and her team are involved in providing a broad range of commercial services including due diligence investigations, foreign exchange, advising international and local clients on cross-border taxation matters, along with drafting and vetting contracts. Pamela: Assists new ...
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Alexander Buscher – Buscher Law LLC

Alex Buscher founded Buscher Law in November 2018 after helping to inform Congress of then-current regulation classifying commercial hemp an illegal Schedule I substance under federal law and the laws of most states. Seeing the massive need for diligent, effective, and efficient legal services for the hemp industry, Buscher law was formed. Buscher is at the forefront of the evolving legal cannabis field through his work with the Colorado General ...
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Samantha Myers – Gowling WLG (UK) LLP

Samantha is a partner in Gowling WLG's Corporate Group and is head of the firm's UK Cannabis Group. She specialises in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets. With extensive experience of acting for companies, or their advisers, on IPOs and secondary transactions, Samantha regularly advises on a range of domestic and cross border M&A transactions, including public takeovers. She also has significant experience in a range of ...
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Aaron Pelley – Cultiva Law

Aaron Pelley is a veritable celebrity in both his achievements as a lawyer, and advocate of cannabis business for over a decade. Having made sizable contributions to the foundation of legal protections surrounding medicinal cannabis law, his passion in this new realm of law drove him forward. This saw the creation of Cultiva and the subsequent creation of a boutique law firm that lies on the pulse of current cannabis ...
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Sean J. McGowan – Kaufman McGowan PLLC

Sean McGowan is a partner at Kaufman McGowan PLLC, Corporate & Securities Counsel to the State-Legal Cannabis Industry™ and one of the leading corporate cannabis law firms in New York and the USA. Mr. McGowan and his firm combine decades of practicing corporate and securities law at the highest levels with 7+ years of extensive cannabis industry experience. Mr. McGowan represents a wide variety of cannabis companies (including several of ...
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Tisha Black – Black & Wadhams

Tisha Black is the Managing Partner at Black & Wadhams. Ms. Black has been an active participant and counselor in the Nevada marijuana industry since 2014. She has been, and continues to be, active in the Nevada State Medical and Recreational Cannabis Program and participate in the legislative process. She works with cannabis business entrepreneurs (in each class of certification) regarding application submission, structure, establishment, financing, compliance, mergers and acquisitions ...
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Jonathan S. Miller – Frost Brown Todd

There are few individuals who have been more influential in the development of the U.S. hemp industry than the U.S. Hemp Roundtable’s General Counsel, Jonathan Miller. Upon helping found the Roundtable (and its sister organization, the U.S. Hemp Authority), Jonathan has served as the industry’s leading advocate for Hemp and CBD legislation on the ground in Congress and in dozens of state legislatures. A recovering politician (the Democrat was elected ...
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Michael R Ross – Prince Lobel

Michael P. Ross brings his experience to solving complex problems and bringing disparate parties together in his focus on commercial real estate, and strategic advice. Mike served for 14 years as a Boston City Councilor, and was President of the body from 2009 to 2010. In 2013, he entered the race for mayor, sharing a bold vision for the city’s future. Mike’s legal practice has focused on the successful permitting ...
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James K Landau – Prince Lobel

Jim Landau is a partner and a member of the firm’s Business Litigation and Cannabis practice groups. Jim represents clients in litigation before Federal, New York State and Local courts and other tribunals, including arbitration and mediation before the American Arbitration Association. Jim’s practice also focuses on providing day-to-day business counseling to cannabis and other businesses with an eye toward avoiding problems before they arise. Jim has become a thought ...
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Elliott Rolfe – Mackrell Solicitors

Elliott Rolfe was one of the UK’s first cannabis lawyers and heads the psychoactive medicines law team at Mackrell. Solicitors. Having studied medical cannabis and other psychoactive medicines across a variety of fields, he has been able to assist some of the world’s leading cannabis companies, and has worked with all corners of the industry, including policy institutes, patients, regulators, trade bodies and academics. He is keenly interested in drug ...
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Nick Richards – Greenspoon Marder

Nick Richards is a partner and co-chair of the Cannabis Law practice group at Greenspoon Marder LLP. He represents individuals and businesses in tax audits & trials, M&A, in managing tax debt, and he advises cannabis companies, owners and investors regarding tax and regulatory compliance matters. Mr. Richards has been a tax attorney for more than twenty years beginning his career with the IRS where he was a leading trial ...
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Chelsie Spencer – Ritter Spencer

Forbes Magazine dubbed Chelsie Spencer the “rare friendly face in the midst of a cutthroat CBD hurricane, the person you want on speed dial when things turn sour” for her work in the cannabidiol (CBD) industry. As head of the cannabis practice at Ritter Spencer PLLC, Chelsie represents clients in every facet of the cannabis and hemp industries, including dispensaries, growers, processors, manufacturers, retailers, and more for their business needs ...
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Veronica Darling – Cultiva Law

Veronica is a Pacific Northwest native with over a decade of experience in strategic business planning, complex commercial litigation and regulatory compliance. Over the last four years, she has become intimately involved in navigating the Oregon cannabis regulatory landscape, serving as compliance and regulatory counsel for a local cannabis processor. Prior to returning to Portland in 2015, Veronica represented numerous municipalities and public entities throughout California in various regulatory and ...
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Lisa Holley – Lisa Holley Law

Lisa focuses her practice primarily in the areas of cannabis, employment and criminal law. She has successfully represented clients in both state and federal courts and before regulators and government agencies on a variety of issues. As an early commenter to the original Rhode Island cannabis legislation and regulations while serving as then Chief Legal Counsel to the Rhode Island State Police, Lisa consults with investors, operators and related parties ...
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Nigel Rowley – Mackrell Solicitors

Nigel is the firm’s Managing Partner and joint Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at Mackrell.Solicitors’ London and Birmingham offices. He is widely experienced in complex litigation matters, and various forms of dispute resolution. He is a Past Chairman of Mackrell International, an independent network of 100+ law firms around the world. As a result of the firms’ membership of Mackrell International, Nigel is very experienced in cross-border disputes, major ...
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David Holland – Prince Lobel

David C. Holland is a partner and a member of Prince Lobel’s Business Litigation and Cannabis practice groups. David is a highly sought-after civil and criminal litigation attorney who has an extensive background in representing a broad range of stakeholders in the cannabis industry. He is the Executive and Legal Director of Empire State NORML, the New York State affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ...
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Ricardo Geada – Mackrell Solicitors

Ricardo Geada is a partner of Mackrell. Solicitors and heads up the cannabis and regulatory team. A solicitor with more than 13 years' legal experience – both in private practice and in-house – Ricardo has genuine interest in drug policy reform and regulation, particularly the legal developments and regulatory regimes governing CBD wellness products and medicinal-based cannabis products. He is regularly instructed by global cannabis companies, handling their legal and ...
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Janet E. Jackim – Zuber Lawler LLP

Janet Jackim, who received the AV-Preeminent® Rating from Martindale-Hubbell®, focuses on real estate acquisitions and leasing; equity and debt financing; loan workouts; and cannabis acquisitions, dispositions, and other deals. Ms. Jackim supplements her legal insight with advanced technical, operational and financial acumen particular to the cannabis industry. Her problem-solving creativity aids in resolving complex issues for her rapidly-expanding cannabis clients. Ms. Jackim is particularly well-versed in the cannabis space. She ...
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Dr Teresa Nicoletti – Mills Oakley (Australia)

Dr Teresa Nicoletti is a dual-qualified PhD-qualified scientist and lawyer and is recognised as one of Australia’s leading legal practitioners in the health and life sciences sectors, particularly in the therapeutic goods space in which she has operated for more than 25 years.She holds the highest Band 1 ranking for Life Sciences in Chambers Asia Pacific and is listed in Legal 500 for Intellectual Property and Best Lawyers for Health ...
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Rachel Gillette – Holland & Hart

A leading cannabis-focused lawyer, Rachel helps clients nationwide proactively plan and implement strategies to capitalize on strategic business opportunities. At the vanguard of the retail marijuana industry, Rachel leverages more than a decade of experience guiding clients to establish, expand, and protect profitable businesses in a rapidly-evolving legal, regulatory, and financial environment. From years of interacting with regulators and taxing authorities Rachel knows how state and local provisions will be ...
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Ted Bernhard – Cultiva Law

Ted Bernhard is a seasoned business, securities, tax and regulatory compliance attorney with a professional career spanning over two decades. He began his legal career with one of the largest and most prominent law firms in the Pacific Northwest and joined Cultiva Law to continue serving entrepreneurs, businesses and private equity investors. Ted’s specialty is in applying proven business and legal principles to new businesses pursuing innovative market opportunities. Specifically, ...
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Thomas Howard – Collateral Base, LLC

Thomas Howard became a stockbroker after law school in 2008. The next year, he became licensed to practice law in Illinois and began a complex financial litigation practice with community banks and private equity funds as his clients. In 2010, he wrote a book about the nation’s cannabis laws and began building an online audience that has grown to the hundreds of thousands. By 2015, Illinois had legalized cannabis and ...
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Daniel Haymann – MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep Ltd

Daniel Haymann heads MLL’s cannabis practice. He specializes in corporate and commercial law as well as on regulatory matters in the cannabis industry and advises investors, start-ups and vertically integrated companies along the value chain. Prior to embarking on a second career as an attorney, Daniel gained over 12 years of experience in the trading, mining, energy and related industries based out of Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong, working for ...
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Jonathan Storper – Hanson Bridgett

Jonathan previously led the corporate department at Hanson Bridgett and founded and led Hanson Bridgett’s sustainable law practice, which focuses on developing a more sustainable economy by assisting mission driven companies and high impact investors in a variety of industries. He represents entities and their investors in connection with business and intellectual property transactions, including formation, finance, contracts, licenses, joint venture and development, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, e-commerce, technology-related matters ...
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Scot Crow – Dickinson Wright PLLC

Scot Crow (Member, Columbus) is General Corporate, M&A, and Private Equity Practice Group Chair and a Board Member at Dickinson-Wright PLLC. Scot is also the Co-Founder of the Cannabis Practice, which launched over 10 years ago and includes more than 50 attorneys providing advice to clients in the cannabis sector. He has extensive experience in corporate, mergers and acquisitions, and tax law, with a particular emphasis on regulated industries (healthcare, ...
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João Taborda da Gama – Gama Gloria

João Gama is a founding partner of Gama Glória, a law firm based in Lisbon, and a senior advisor of the Albright Stonebridge Group, in Washington DC. João advises global companies, governments, patients and NGOs on the regulation, use, production and trade of controlled substances in medical, religious, spiritual or recreational contexts. João has successfully advised companies obtaining licenses to cultivate GACP medical cannabis and to produce GMP medical cannabis ...
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Ricardo Costa Macedo – Caiado Guerreiro

Ricardo Costa Macedo is a partner at Caiado Guerreiro since 2006. He heads the Intellectual Property and Life Sciences groups of the firm. His practice covers a wide range of contentious and non-contentious patent, trademark and other IP-related rights, such as trade secrets and unfair competition, in particular in the pharmaceutical, home care, food and insurance sectors. Moreover, he has vast knowledge in regulatory matters in these sectors. Recognition As ...
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Ariel Clark – Clark Howell

Ariel Clark is one of California’s best and most dedicated cannabis business attorneys. For over a decade, Ariel has been in the trenches of cannabis law and policy in order to effectively advise legacy operators and entrepreneurs. Her clients are California born-and-bred farmers, cutting-edge manufacturers, multi-state operators, and highly successful investors and innovators. When the idea of cannabis business law was considered an oxymoron, she committed her practice exclusively to ...
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Steve Levine – Husch Blackwell

Steve Malito – Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, LLP

Tiffiny Walls-Fox – Edlin Gallagher Huie & Blum

Tracy Gallegos – Duane Morris.

Tricia Kuhl – Blakes

Tristan D. Hujer – Phillips Lytle LLP

Vojtech Sucharda – Arrows ETL

William J. Beneduce – Norris McLoughlin PA

Xavier Valverde – Praetorium

Featured Firms – 2022/2023

Greenberg Glusker

California remains in the vanguard of the movement to legalize cannabis, but the federal government lags behind, still criminalizing cannabis. Even the most sophisticated clients require expert guidance navigating this treacherous legal landscape. Greenberg Glusker has been a pioneering law firm in this industry with expertise specific to cannabis, including state regulation, taxation, and intellectual property. We have: Pioneered ground-breaking licensing deals for intellectual property. For example, we represented the ...
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Holland & Hart

Founded in 1947, Holland & Hart is a full-service Am Law 200 firm with offices in eight states and in Washington, DC. We deliver integrated legal solutions to regional, national, and international clients of all sizes in a diverse range of industries. We strive to lead our profession by giving the highest level of service and loyalty to our clients and by forging a team—lawyers, paralegals, staff, and other professionals—whose ...
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Cultiva Law

We provided strategic legal counsel that contributed to the legalization of medical cannabis and protections for those who provide and use it. We were active participants in developing the policies and legal structures that created the thriving adult-use cannabis markets across the country. As advocates for the industry and culture of cannabis, we understand why our clients choose the bigger risks and less certain rewards of the cannabis industry. Because ...
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Dickinson Wright PLLC

At Dickinson Wright, we define success by our clients’ metrics. Across our 40 practice areas, our team of over 475 lawyers has an unwavering focus on providing unmatched client service and the highest quality legal advice. We are proactive and accessible, providing practical solutions and actionable advice. We are always mindful that we must earn our reputation each and every day by delivering results that speak for themselves. As a ...
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Cannabis Lawyers – Commended Listings

Kristen Westphal – Cultiva Law

Kristin is a versatile litigator with a breadth and depth of legal experience that can only be gained by getting in the trenches and taking cases to trial. Always up for a challenge, Kristin has practiced as far south as Alabama, and as far west as Hawaii. She has currently made California her home base. Having represented both plaintiffs and defendants in corporate, business, construction, intellectual property and trademark litigation ...
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Alexa Steinberg – Greenberg Glusker

Alexa is a corporate and transactional attorney for middle-market companies and entrepreneurs. Acting as outside general counsel, Alexa represents privately held companies in a wide variety of general corporate and transactional matters, ranging from entity formation and structuring to commercial transactions. Acting as transactional counsel, she prepares companies and guides them through mergers and acquisitions as well as financings. Her deep industry experience with branded consumer products, cannabis, hemp, and ...
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Kenneth Ford – Cultiva Law

While kenneth’s practice at Cultiva Law primarily focuses on representing cannabis industry clients in litigation, he is well versed in many areas of law. With a background in corporate litigation, industry compliance, corporate transactions, and tax, Ken is thrilled to meld these passions to cultivate effective legal solutions across all stages of corporate development, operation, and litigation. Ken is a cannabis attorney with an extensive background in tax law and ...
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Kamran Farkhondepay Aryah – Cultiva Law

As a cannabis attorney, Kamran builds compliance solutions for companies of all sizes in the emerging federally legal hemp market, and state level recreational marijuana markets. In his legal practice, Kamran’s focus is the representation of closely-held entities and emerging growth companies through the whole business life cycle, including entity selection, formation, protecting intellectual property rights, acquisitions and, if appropriate, the transfer or sale of the business. Kamran’s deep knowledge ...
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Priya Sopori – Greenberg Glusker

Priya Sopori is founder and co-chair of Greenberg Glusker’s Cannabis Industry Group and a member of the firm’s Litigation Group. Priya’s legal savvy and deep courtroom experience—both as an award-winning veteran federal prosecutor and in substantial private practice—enable her to provide clients with the skilled representation and counsel they need during high-stakes trial and crisis situations. As a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California, she indicted ...
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Karen Albence – Cultiva Law

Karen Albence practices in the state of California for Cultiva Law and has cases and vast experience in numerous counties all over California. She also has litigated and is licensed to practice in Hawaii. Karen concentrates in litigation, and is experienced in all phases of civil and commercial litigation. However, she also has many years of experience in other litigation areas that relate to the unique area of cannabis law ...
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Steven Stein – Greenberg Glusker

Steve Stein is a litigator who has represented clients in an array of high-profile matters, including prominent media organizations in speech and intellectual property disputes, entertainment companies in claims concerning valuable projects, and companies and individuals in complex business and contract disputes. Steve has significant experience litigating business issues in high-net-worth dissolution proceedings. He also litigates cannabis-related disputes, helping found and serving as Co-Chair of the firm’s Cannabis Group. He ...
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Jeffrey Hoffman

My practice focuses on clients in the cannabis industry, including licensees in the adult-use cannabis market, practitioners in the medical cannabis space, and cannabis adjacent product and service providers. Think of me as your Cannabis Consigliere. I have a particular interest in social and economic equity cannabis license applicants, and I also inform and assist those convicted of cannabis offenses in getting such convictions expunged from their record. Matters and ...
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Michelle Mabugat – Greenberg Glusker

Michelle Mabugat is a corporate and transactional attorney representing entrepreneurs, start-ups and middle-market companies. She advises companies and their principals across a broad range of business sectors, but she has deep industry expertise in branded consumer products, manufacturing & distribution, commercial cannabis and industrial hemp. Frequently acting as general counsel for her clients, Michelle’s practice is broad in scope and she has extensive experience in handling significant transactions whether it’s ...
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Thomas Butcher – Cultiva Law

Thomas Butcher combines a strong passion for litigation and hard work to reach the best outcome for his clients on a daily basis. In his legal practice, Thomas’ focus is in the representation of clients, ranging from farmers, processors and retail owners. With a background in corporate transactions and regulatory compliance, he brings his broad expertise to help clients during every stage of business development, growth and change. He aids ...
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