Last summer, I wrote a post called “Fire Season is Coming.” Given the massive expected California droughts, it’s pretty safe to assume that fire season is coming, again. Today, I want to recap some of the issues that we’re likely to see in the coming months. As we learned in prior fire seasons, the cannabis
We work with many large cannabis businesses and many small ones too. It’s fun to talk up the bigger fish, but I have a soft spot for the little guys. I really enjoy small business at the end of the day. I like seeing financial statements of disciplined, privately held companies doing maybe $5m to
California es uno de los estados más complicados de EE. UU. para los empleadores, y especialmente para los del sector del cannabis. Los numerosos y enrevesados requisitos que existen aquí simplemente no se dan en muchos otros estados. La clasificación de los trabajadores del sector del cannabis en California es uno de los mayores retos para la industria local. Las empresas del sector del cannabis suelen pensar que pueden eludir los requisitos de la legislación laboral llamando a
I recently spoke with a lawyer who was newer to representing cannabis clients. The lawyer asked me to describe the biggest legal mistakes I see for cannabis businesses. Over the years, our cannabis lawyers have seen cannabis businesses make just about every mistake in the book. Today though, I want to talk about what I
Many cannabis handshake deals result in the parties forming an inadvertent cannabis partnership. The words “partnership” and “joint venture” are often thrown around casually. Many early stage cannabis entrepreneurs know they want to do some type of business venture, often with a business partner, but they often do not know why or how to avoid
Investors in marijuana businesses face many risks. To name just a few: the subject of their investment is illegal under federal law; the businesses in which they are investing face heavy tax burdens because of IRC 280e; and the lack of access to banking services means businesses operate nearly exclusively cash, which makes tracking sales,
Most people who are (luckily) not familiar with litigation believe alternative dispute resolution (or “ADR”) clauses in their contracts are essentially boilerplate language that’s recycled again and again in every contract. However, well-drafted ADR clauses can not only give you a huge advantage if an issue comes up, they may also cause your counterparty to
Cannabis businesses are usually limited liability companies (LLCs). There are a lot of reasons for this, starting with the fact that LLCs are more flexible than corporations, which have much more rigid rules. To take advantage of those flexibilities, and for a lot of other reasons, LLC owners (called members) need an operating agreement. Below,
Data reveal a concerning increase in violent crime in many U.S. cities during COVID in 2020 and 2021. Increasingly, cannabis businesses, particularly dispensaries, are targets for robbery or other criminal activity. The reason that cannabis businesses are being hit particularly hard is not hard to fathom. Federal law still treats cannabis as a Schedule I
Previously we wrote about equity compensation for cannabis employees from the perspective of companies. We have been dealing with more and more companies adding equity to their overall compensation scheme, so now is a good time to revisit it from the employee perspective. For an overview of the types of equity compensation available, see here.
