Jonathan is chair of Harris Sliwoski’s corporate practice group, where he helps public and private companies with international and domestic business transactions. His clientele includes companies from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Jonathan has worked and consulted in the U.S., Asia, and South America and is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese.
He is an emerging blockchain legal expert and enjoys developing international legal strategies with promising web3 projects.
One of the most fundamental questions facing any businessperson in the cannabis industry and every other industry is: “What type of business entity should I use?” This is such a loaded question that your lawyer or accountant will first respond with, “That depends,” and then they will need to ask you at least ten follow-up
It is trite of me to say so, but the current “gold rush” in the U.S. has prospectors dreaming of double-fisting cannabis buds and greenbacks, and that makes for fertile fraud soil. In this green rush, investors are voraciously putting money into cannabis ventures that are, in some instances, producing vast amounts of cash and
I recently attended two events in Utah headlined by the United Natural Products Alliance (“UNPA”) where its President, Loren Israelsen, discussed the voluminous public comments received by the FDA in response its latest round of questions regarding how over-the-counter cannabis extracts like CBD should be regulated. Israelsen provided numerous takeaways for UNPA members and their
With Juul recently in the news and vaping bans going into effect around the country (see our recent coverage here, here, here and here), marijuana companies have been asking us questions about what to expect in the near term. In the midst of this uncertainty, we have been stressing to our clients the importance of insurance coverage
As veteran marijuana business owners (and virtually every other type of industry owners) know, there may come a point in time in the business when you are sitting across the table from someone who is offering to put money into your business. They may be your prospective business partner. They may be your close friends
Recently I wrote about the two dominant global MLM essential oil companies based in Utah: Young Living and doTERRA. Last month Young Living announced it is entering the CBD oil market, but doTERRA publicly stated on its website that it will not (yet) follow suit, even though everyone and their dog are clamoring for CBD
Utah is a unique state for a variety of reasons, but recently it gained additional notoriety because the “world leader in essential oils” (based on global revenue), Young Living Essential Oils, announced it acquired Colorado-based Nature’s Ultra. Nature’s Ultra owns more than 1,500 acres of hemp farms in Colorado and produces “natural, organic, vegan approved,
In a prior post I discussed some general insurance issues for cannabis business owners to consider. Today we’ll take a deep dive into Washington State insurance for cannabis businesses. As is the case with most emerging industries, the pace of marijuana business continues to outstrip the development of ancillary but crucial services (see California Approves
