Cannabis Law

The past decade has seen dramatic reform in the cannabis industry, with the legal regulatory landscape in New Jersey and the tri-state region anticipated to soon expand exponentially with the emergence of an adult-use marketplace. Given Genova Burns’ experience representing clients in the cannabis, hemp and CBD industries from the earliest stages of development, the Firm is uniquely qualified to advise investors, cultivators, processors, distributors, retailers and ancillary businesses.

Genova Burns’ Cannabis group is bolstered by an array of highly regarded and sought-after industry practitioners that also have diverse experience in other heavily regulated industries. Our clients turn to us for assistance with everything from licensure, to understanding and navigating the legal and policy issues of this highly regulated and nuanced business.

While many states, such as New Jersey, have legalized or begun to legalize the use and distribution of cannabis, this signals incredible new opportunities as well as challenges for those involved in the industry. Issues facing our clients include federal and state regulation and compliance, financing, labor and employment, health care, intellectual property, licensing, litigation, real estate, land use/zoning, and tax and corporate governance.

We continue to advise our cannabis law clients on assistance with entity formation, regulatory counseling, drafting and negotiating agreements, and the evolution and impact of industry legislation including what is on the horizon, employment and human resources issues, and intellectual property matters.

We have successfully assisted our clients with, among other things:

• Successfully assisted a client in the 2018 medical round which obtained one of the six highly coveted licenses available to operate an Alternative Treatment Center in NJ
  • Successfully assisted several vertically integrated and retail applicants who were recently awarded licenses in the 2019 medical licensing round
  • Successfully assisted multiple clients get awarded local resolutions of support and state licensure with respect to their adult-use cannabis applications
  • Draft management service contracts, commercial real estate leases, financial source agreements, operating agreements and other corporate and real estate transactional documents
  • Negotiated labor peace agreements, licenses, permits and contracts, such as white label agreements, for cannabis-focused businesses
  • FDA labeling and advertising issues for CBD companies as well as banking, trademarking and insurance
  • Advice on the funding and acquisition of cannabis-related entities
  • Employee training and human resources policies such as drug testing and cannabis use at the workplace
  • Navigating the federal, state and local laws governing growth, distribution, sale and use of cannabis
  • Securing critical intellectual property rights including trademarks