I Bet Your Cannabis Lawyer is a Pretty Good Business Lawyer – Canna Law Blog™

Through the years, I’ve heard many variations on a sure remark I’d like to deal with. The remark is: “I considered calling you for the undertaking, but it surely wasn’t a hashish matter.” It’s an actual intestine shot, listening to these harmless phrases.

I absolutely perceive why somebody would assume they want a non-cannabis lawyer to deal with a non-cannabis matter. The shopper thinks of their hashish lawyer as a specialist, whereas another lawyer or legislation agency might specialise in “common” enterprise issues. In actual fact, it’s most likely my very own fault purchasers assume this manner half the time. All we ever discuss is hashish!

Likelihood is, nonetheless, that your hashish lawyer is a reasonably good enterprise lawyer. Stated one other means, if in case you have a gifted hashish lawyer, you doubtless have a gifted enterprise lawyer. Beneath are a few causes.

Hashish legislation is enterprise legislation

A major majority of the “hashish legislation” we have now accomplished on the agency is enterprise legislation, with a managed substance overlay. Similar to attorneys who deal with healthcare, banking, tech, or different industries, a hashish lawyer helps purchasers navigate compliance, contracts, funding, disagreements, and many others.

Typically talking, the underlying authorized work accomplished by a hashish lawyer is identical as in different enterprise sectors. What distinguishes hashish legislation just isn’t the kind of authorized expertise required, however the distinct regulatory overlay. Hashish legislation is dynamic and infrequently advanced, arising from federal illegality and all it entails. Attorneys who work with state-licensed hashish companies should be sound enterprise attorneys, but additionally versatile and inventive.

Hashish offers have vary

Deal dimension within the hashish area is — and all the time has been — particularly extremely variable. We’ve got seen waves of small enterprise exercise over time, alongside large-scale funding and a rash of U.S. corporations uplisting on overseas exchanges (principally in Canada). And every part in between.

I’ve had days the place I labored on 100-page agreements with dozens of schedules and reveals, involving advanced indemnities and disclosures for widely-held corporations, then turned to 10-page leases for mom-and-pop shops. The bigger offers are extra subtle and require heightened experience, however the small offers are typically more durable, as a consequence of budgetary constraints and clientele. A enterprise lawyer who has spent sufficient time within the hashish area will doubtless have vary.

Hashish legislation hasn’t been round all that lengthy

The perfect hashish attorneys I do know are enterprise attorneys who began out doing one thing else. The primary adult-use hashish packages didn’t roll out till 10 or so years in the past. Most of us had been doing different issues earlier than then. Enterprise issues! We had been usually doing this work at different legislation companies, in collaboration with different enterprise attorneys. And we’ve continued to take action alongside our hashish trade work.

Within the early days of grownup use hashish packages, attorneys and legislation companies had been cautious. The pioneering attorneys had prison legislation backgrounds and helped with small transactions, licensing and compliance. A number of the enterprise recommendation wasn’t good; some was OK. In time, extra attorneys and legislation companies (together with giant legislation companies) entered the area, and extra subtle offers and fights ensued. A lot of the “hashish attorneys” dealing with these subsequent era offers, got here from different areas.

It’s onerous to do hashish legislation, solely

The hashish trade has been within the doldrums, just about since COVID. Because of this, trade service suppliers have thinned out. This contains on the authorized entrance. The enterprise attorneys who stay are usually robust hashish attorneys, however are additionally good in different areas. To wit, up to now week I’ve labored on:

An M&A take care of a sizeable A.I. firm absorbing one other A.I. firm, via a reverse triangular merger. Nothing to do with hashish.
A 3PL settlement for a big attire firm, to end in commerce platforms and storefronts in and round Shanghai, China. Nothing to do with hashish.
Negotiation of a proposal and partnership settlement for a senior lawyer to affix an AM 200 outfit. Once more, nothing to do with hashish.
Three or 4 hashish enterprise gross sales, and related transactions. Hashish legislation all the way in which.

In case your hashish lawyer can do M&A, or financing, or actual property, or litigation, or any of this stuff in a dicey, regulated area, then they will doubtless do it elsewhere. In actual fact, they most likely already are, and had been, lengthy earlier than they met you.

When you like working along with your hashish lawyer, and you’ve got another sort of undertaking or know somebody who does, maintain that lawyer in thoughts. Most hashish attorneys are enterprise attorneys, in any case. And they’re competent, artistic, resourceful ones at that.