Overview
Businesses in the highly regulated cannabis industry are governed by an array of federal, state and local laws and regulations concerning cultivation, processing, and dispensing. Many of those laws affect not only the cannabis industry, but also those businesses that provide goods and services to the industry. Stinson attorneys have significant experience advising participants in the medical and retail marijuana industries as well as the hemp industry. Stinson attorneys also regularly represent businesses whose cannabis activities are ancillary to their primary business functions, about the legal and regulatory environment that makes the cannabis industry unique.
Stinson offers businesses involved in the cannabis industry legal representation on state, federal and local issues including:
Regulatory and Compliance
We handle compliance and regulatory issues that may arise in the ever-changing cannabis industry, including corporate governance, licensing, compliance review and training, internal investigations, and government and regulatory enforcement action defense. We have provided counsel to a variety of companies in the cannabis supply chain from cannabis license holders to retail companies and everything in between. Our firm’s deep bench of expertise across industries allows us to provide advice concerning local and state licensing regulations affecting cannabis license holders, to federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and related Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines affecting CBD and other extract, processing, and retail companies.
Banking and Financial Services
We have significant experience handling the unique banking and financial challenges created by the marijuana and hemp industries. Our lawyers have been at the forefront of the cannabis banking issue and have been instrumental in assisting financial institutions and bank and credit union regulators across the country in navigating this complicated area. We counsel financial institutions that provide services to hemp and marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) on anti-money laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) policies and procedures, compliance with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Department of Justice’s marijuana-related guidance, customer due diligence, loan structuring, and real estate transactions.
Litigation
We have successfully handled litigation in a broad range of cannabis-related matters, from the routine to the complex. Our litigation team can provide cost-effective, expert advice on investment and partnership disputes, licensing and regulatory actions, contract and vendor-related disputes, product liability matters, employment and labor disputes and investigations, and other general litigation issues.
Business and Transactional
We have a deep bench of experienced attorneys who provide sophisticated business and transactional advice to clients ranging from basic entity formation to mergers and acquisition agreements, vendor contracts, real estate and leasing matters, and private equity and debt financing.
Intellectual Property and Technology
We are devoted to helping our clients protect, defend and exploit their IP assets. We also counsel clients in strategies to minimize liability risks for IP infringement in order to protect their businesses' bottom line. Our IP lawyers have years of experience providing cannabis clients advice related to patent and trademark prosecution.
State Licensing and Regulations
We assist cannabis clients in navigating state cannabis license application processes, including for cultivation, manufacturing, infused products, processing, and dispensaries. We also help clients appeal denials of license applications as well as challenge revocations or other regulatory actions taken against their licenses.
