A Lowenstein Sandler LLP special counsel who served as New Jersey's attorney general from 2007 to 2010 has been nominated to head the Drug Enforcement Administration, President Joe Biden announced Monday.
At its inaugural meeting on Monday, members of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission pitched a vision of regulating cannabis with a focus on restoring communities harmed by the war on drugs and ensuring patients' continued access to medicinal marijuana in the Garden State.
A Michigan federal judge has halted Detroit's marijuana dispensary licensing program in response to a lawsuit that accused the city of unconstitutionally discriminating against nonresidents.
A Minnesota House committee advanced a bill Monday to legalize recreational cannabis and impose gross receipts and use taxes on sales of cannabis products.
An investor suing a cannabis entrepreneur for allegedly misleading him into funding federally illegal drug operations and failing to return his investment plus interest urged a Colorado federal judge Friday not to extinguish racketeering claims, saying "this is exactly the type of conduct RICO was designed to discourage and punish."
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed off Monday on legislation that legalizes marijuana for adult use and expunges criminal records for certain marijuana-related convictions, making the state the 18th in the country to launch a recreational cannabis industry.
A Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. affiliate urged a Utah federal judge on Thursday to hand the insurer a quick win in a dispute accusing the insurance company of breaching its contract when it allegedly canceled a store owner's insurance policy without providing 30 days' notice.
The Montana House of Representatives advanced multiple bills implementing voter-approved adult-use legalization, but with dueling proposals on how to spend the tax revenue, while North Carolina lawmakers pitched medical and recreational cannabis legislation on the same day. Here are the major developments in cannabis reform from the past week.
A Michigan federal court correctly dismissed a suit by cannabis business owners seeking to quash a third-party summons issued by the IRS requesting their companies' records because the summons aided a criminal investigation, the Sixth Circuit said Friday.
A New Hampshire federal judge has denied U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's dismissal bid in a suit accusing the agency of unlawfully detaining a man at a traffic checkpoint before he was charged for having hash oil, though the court let a border patrol agent out of the case.
A medical marijuana company has filed suit Thursday against the city of Detroit, alleging it wrongfully denied the company permission to operate a facility when it ruled that the proposed facility was too close to a Roman Catholic parochial school.
A Massachusetts cannabis dispensary has sued the city of Haverhill over a controversial state policy that allows municipalities to charge "community impact" fees, asking the court to order the city to demonstrate why it needs to extract funds from a local marijuana business.
Blank-check company Mercer Park Brand Acquisition Corp. said Thursday it will acquire California cannabis company Glass House Group in a $567 million deal handled by Stikeman Elliott LLP, Hodgson Russ LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, Venable LLP and Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP.
A Colorado federal magistrate judge recommended denying marijuana company Green Solution's bid to dismiss a lawsuit over unwanted marketing texts on Wednesday, saying it's too early in the litigation to consider the company's argument that the texts were sent with consent.
A Washington state appellate court revived a landlord's lawsuit over an ownership stake in a marijuana license held by a tenant, saying Monday that the landlord's claims were enough to survive a bid to end the suit.
The onetime executive of a consumer goods company with a hemp wellness brand in its portfolio has accused his former employer of stiffing him on multiple fronts following his departure from the firm amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canopy Growth plans to snap up Canadian peer The Supreme Cannabis Co. for roughly C$435 million ($345.7 million), the companies said Thursday, in a transaction put together with help from Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, respectively.
A Denver event space is asking a Colorado federal bankruptcy judge to nullify a sublease it has with a marijuana dispensary, arguing the lease has to be thrown out so it can move forward with its Chapter 11 petition.
CBD manufacturer Sage Fulfillment asked a Connecticut federal judge to dismiss a pet products company's claim that it was conned into an exclusive supply agreement, saying the company had not sufficiently pled that fraud took place.
Virginia will legalize and tax marijuana for adult recreational use starting July 1, after lawmakers Wednesday approved amendments from the governor to move up the date from Jan. 1, 2024.
The mayor of Newport, Arkansas, is suing multistate cannabis company Harvest on behalf of the town's residents after Harvest accepted hundreds of thousands in incentives to open a cultivation facility in Newport and then moved it to another county.
Cannabis giant Curaleaf announced Wednesday that it had secured $130 million from an unnamed institutional investor to help complete its previously announced purchase of European medical cannabis company EMMAC Life Sciences Ltd.
Clinical lab testing giant Quest Diagnostics asked a Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday to dismiss claims by a former Amazon employee who saw a full-time job offer rescinded after he tested positive for cannabis despite having a medical marijuana license, slamming the claims against it as "baseless."
Hemp processor Generation Hemp Inc. announced Tuesday it has hired a former Baker Botts LLP partner to be its first general counsel and help the company navigate financial issues as it prepares to be listed on the NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange.
The conviction of three men who designed an elaborate scheme to get credit card purchases from cannabis delivery company Eaze approved by banks highlights a practice that industry insiders say is still tempting for payment processors and dispensaries, but it also underscores that prosecutors are paying attention.
The current high demand for midlevel associates provides them a rare opportunity to potentially explore new practice areas, but associates should first ask themselves six questions to begin figuring out why a change sounds appealing, says Stephanie Biderman at Major Lindsey.
Two warning letters the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued to makers of CBD products highlight the agency's chief enforcement concerns, but leave some uncertainties regarding the future of CBD regulation, say Kristi Wolff and Donnelly McDowell at Kelley Drye.
To truly support a client going through a complicated lawsuit or a painful experience, lawyers must think beyond interpreting legal guidelines and navigating court proceedings, says attorney Scott Corwin.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stepped up its issuance of warning letters during the first quarter of 2021, and focused particularly on products for diagnosing, treating and preventing COVID-19, and on vaping products — so manufacturers and retailers in these sectors should intensify their marketing compliance efforts, says Katie Insogna at DLA Piper.
Due to the pandemic, the gap between law school and the first day on the job has never been wider, but law firms can leverage training to bridge that intimidating gap and convey the unique value of their culture in a virtual environment, say Melissa Schwind at Ward and Smith, and William Kenney and Jaron Luttich at Element Standard.
Although the alcohol taxation system isn't perfect, it could serve as a useful template for cannabis taxation with a three-tier licensing scheme and tax rates based on potency, says Louis Terminello at Greenspoon Marder.
The virtual courtroom limits a narcissistic lawyer's ability to intimidate witnesses and opposing counsel, boast to clients or engage in grandstanding — an unexpected benefit of the global pandemic as some aspects of remote litigation are likely here to stay, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
A recent American Bar Association opinion on lawyers' ethical duties of competence and confidentiality when working remotely should be viewed as part of a larger movement by which attorneys are being exhorted to develop competence in 21st century technology, say Jennifer Goldsmith at Ironshore and Barry Temkin at Mound Cotton.
Elements of New York's recently passed Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, such as its prohibition of vertically integrated operators, show consideration for social and economic equity in the new industry, says Simon Malinowski at Harris Bricken.
While a Texas federal court recently denied a motion to disqualify DLA Piper from representing Apple in a patent dispute after the law firm hired an attorney who formerly represented opponent Maxwell, the case is a reminder that robust conflict checks during lateral hiring can save firms the time and expense of defending disqualification motions, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Facebook v. Duguid, adopting a narrow definition of "automatic telephone dialing system," will create hurdles for Telephone Consumer Protection Act plaintiffs, though the effects of the court's guidance may be short-lived if Congress revisits the statute, say attorneys at Dechert.
Lawyers preparing to mediate or arbitrate a case through videoconference should take steps to ensure they and their alternative dispute resolution providers are employing reasonable security precautions to protect digital client data and conform to confidentiality obligations, say F. Keith Brown and Michael Koss at ADR Systems.
With Georgia expected to soon become the 13th jurisdiction to adopt the Uniform Mediation Act and with more states likely to follow suit amid widespread trial delays, practitioners should familiarize themselves with the act's conflict disclosure requirements and the boundaries of its confidentiality provisions, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
With the pandemic ushering in remote collaboration tools, counsel must revisit fundamentals of the attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine, study cases involving email and other recent technologies, and follow 10 best practices to protect confidentiality, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
Recent data breaches involving Goodwin and Jones Day show that cyberattacks are very real threats to the legal profession, especially in the era of remote work, so law firms should revisit common business practices that expose them to unnecessary risks, says Ara Aslanian at Inverselogic.