In the near future, we also plan to put together a follow-up post answering questions we didn’t have time for during the event. Stay tuned!

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Multi-state operators (MSOs) are becoming more prevalent in the domestic and global cannabis trade. As industry consolidates, state and local governments have rolled out competitive licensing systems that demand large amounts of capital, general business acumen and specific experience in regulated industries. The cannabis MSO game is not for the faint of heart, but the upside is tremendous.

MSOs face a unique host of issues in the state-to-state cannabis market that can only be navigated by an intimate and comprehensive knowledge of local regulations, regulators, cultures and markets. Oftentimes, MSOs are also large organizations with numerous principals, management staff and executives, and hundreds of employees. Additionally, MSOs may tend to have complicated corporate structures to ensure the separation and preservation of various assets, including real estate, intellectual property, and equipment. And each state (and even city or county) will treat cannabis MSOs differently. All in all, regulatory oversight will change drastically from state to state– especially in the areas of disclosure and changes of ownership.

To gain market share, MSOs often will look to the secondary cannabis market to buy up existing operators in various jurisdictions. Depending on the structure of the MSO, disclosure requirements for owners, financially interested parties, and/or true parties of interest can be extremely nettlesome. Depending on the jurisdiction, acquisitions may or may not even be legally possible and/or realistic within a reasonable amount of time– especially if the MSO is publicly traded.

This webinar is dedicated to highlighting the most important issues for MSOs in the U.S. for state-to-state expansion. MSOs must be aware of the various pitfalls they face as they expand across the country, including various corporate structures, tax impacts, employment issues, and licensing and disclosure quirks from state to state. Vince Sliwoski (Portland), Hilary Bricken (Los Angeles), and Alison Malsbury (San Francisco) will present on and discuss these issues on Thursday, April 2, 2020 from 12-1:00 p.m. PT. This webinar will focus on education applicable to MSO executives and general counsel.

We sincerely hope you can join us to discuss these cutting-edge issues for this innovative and evolving industry group.

You can purchase tickets through Eventbrite. Early bird tickets will be available until Tuesday, March 17th  for only $40, after which time the price will be $60.

For questions please email events@harrisbricken.com. We look forward to seeing you next month!

Best practices for navigating the international cannabis trade has been an in-demand topic for our business and international trade attorneys over the past year. The industry is rapidly expanding and many are eager to get in on the action early. However, being first to the table means being first to traverse the landscape of elaborate, ever-changing regulations and standards. This is where we thrive!

Tomorrow’s webinar on Wednesday, March 4th at 12pm PST features attorneys Adams Lee (Seattle), Griffen Thorne (Los Angeles), Nathalie Bougenies (Portland), and Vince Sliwoski (Portland) as they examine this growing industry sector. Topics of discussion will include:

• The treatment of cannabis (both marijuana and hemp) under international law;
• Import and export of medical marijuana, including customs issues;
• Import and export of hemp and CBD products, including customs issues;
• Considerations around foreign direct investment in U.S. cannabis businesses; and
• Your questions!

In the past year or so, we have seen a remarkable uptick in requests for advice and legal services related to the international cannabis trade. Our business and international trade attorneys continue to blaze trails with clients from all over the world on import/export agreements, foreign direct investment, compliance, customs issues and everything in between. Things are evolving very fast.

This webinar will be hosted by Harris Bricken attorneys Adams Lee (Seattle), Griffen Thorne (Los Angeles), Nathalie Bougenies (Portland) and Vince Sliwoski (Portland). The format of the webinar will cover:

• The treatment of cannabis (both marijuana and hemp) under international law;
• Import and export of medical marijuana, including customs issues;
• Import and export of hemp and CBD products, including customs issues;
• Considerations around foreign direct investment in U.S. cannabis businesses; and
• Your questions.

Register here to join us on Wednesday, March 4 at 12pm PST.

If you cannot attend, feel free to register anyway and submit questions prior to the event. Adams, Griffen, Nathalie and Vince will do their best to field them, and we will post a recording afterward here on the blog.

We hope to see you March 4! In the meantime, check out our extensive series of international cannabis blog posts, which can be found here.

On November 13th, attorneys Nathalie Bougenies and Daniel Shortt hosted an interactive webinar to address the new interim hemp rules released by the USDA last month. If you’re a regular follower of our blog, or a member of the industry, you may have been aware that these new regulations will require action on state, tribal and federal levels, and could potentially hurt the currently thriving hemp industry. This presentation was designed to keep both our clients and subscribers educated, answer your questions, and highlight where there are still gaps in policy that could create potential issues in the near future.

We wanted everyone to get an opportunity to see this presentation and prepare for an informed, successful 2020. It is now available to stream below:

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Due to high attendance, we were not able to answer all questions during the live presentation. Look forward to a second post in the next week, where Nathalie and Daniel will follow up on your additional questions!

It can be difficult forecasting your business’ future in the rapidly evolving hemp industry. From the signing of 2018’s Farm Bill legalizing industrial hemp at the federal level, to the rise of CBD as a purported wündercure, hemp has rapidly become the hottest commodity around. But between the big headlines, hemp industry players have grappled with unclear legal frameworks and a spate of million-dollar lawsuits.

Oregon has been a champion of the hemp industry since first legalizing industrial hemp at the state level back in 2015. The state continues to roll out new regulations and refine its regime. In a very impressive public-private commitment, Oregon State University announced it would be launching the United States’ largest hemp research facility this June.

So how do you keep up with the changes and protect your business? How do new entrepreneurs catch a ride on the relentless hemp-CBD train without getting steamrolled? Stakeholders in the industry at every level should join Harris Bricken this afternoon for a free, one-hour webinar about leveraging Oregon hemp for local and national success.

Portland-based corporate lawyers Vince Sliwoski and Nathalie Bougenies will be joined by  litigation colleagues Jesse Mondry and Jihee Ahn to present this webinar just in time for harvest season. These lawyers represent a wide array of hemp businesses, from local family farms to national retail conglomerates. The format of their upcoming webinar covers:

1. The legal framework of Oregon hemp, including CBD, and anticipated changes;
2. The federal laws that continue to inform and affect Oregon hemp, CBD and related products;
3. The rise of industry lawsuits, and the issues at play; and
4. Your questions, which will be welcome throughout the webinar.

Register Here to join us today, October 3^rd at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

And if you cannot attend, feel free to register and submit questions prior to the event. Our Oregon hemp team will do all our best to field all of them, and we will post a recording afterward.

We hope to see you soon!

It can be difficult forecasting your business’ future in the rapidly evolving hemp industry. From the signing of 2018’s Farm Bill legalizing industrial hemp at the federal level, to the rise of CBD as a purported wündercure, hemp has rapidly become the hottest commodity around. But between the big headlines, hemp industry players have grappled with unclear legal frameworks and a spate of million-dollar lawsuits.

Oregon has been a champion of the hemp industry since first legalizing industrial hemp at the state level back in 2015. The state continues to roll out new regulations and refine its regime. In a very impressive public-private commitment, Oregon State University announced it would be launching the United States’ largest hemp research facility this June.

So how do you keep up with the changes and protect your business? How do new entrepreneurs catch a ride on the relentless hemp-CBD train without getting steamrolled? Stakeholders in the industry at every level should save the date for Thursday, October 3^rdand join Harris Bricken for a free, one-hour webinar about leveraging Oregon hemp for local and national success.

Portland-based corporate lawyers Vince Sliwoski and Nathalie Bougenies will be joined by  litigation colleagues Jesse Mondry and Jihee Ahn to present this webinar just in time for harvest season. These lawyers represent a wide array of hemp businesses, from local family farms to national retail conglomerates. The format of their upcoming webinar covers:

1. The legal framework of Oregon hemp, including CBD, and anticipated changes;
2. The federal laws that continue to inform and affect Oregon hemp, CBD and related products;
3. The rise of industry lawsuits, and the issues at play; and
4. Your questions, which will be welcome throughout the webinar.

Register Here to join us on Thursday, October 3^rd at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

And if you cannot attend, feel free to register and submit questions prior to the event. Our Oregon hemp team will do all our best to field all of them, and we will post a recording afterward.

We hope to see you October 3!

We received a few questions on the topic of cannabis receiverships. As we discussed in the webinar, we’re seeing that a good amount of cannabis litigation has to do with “partnership” (technically, LLC member) disputes. You also might have or will find yourself in trouble because you chose a business partner you’re not happy with, and you want that partner to exit. While you evaluate your options (litigation or alternative dispute resolution) and proceed whichever way makes most sense for you, who will run the day-to-day of your business while you duke it out?

The best answer for some marijuana companies is a court-appointed receiver. These receivers are neutral third-parties that will take over a business’ operations while it’s involved in legal proceedings. A receiver’s sole purpose is to preserve and protect the business during this period – and, if you take care to ensure that your receiver is well-versed in the cannabis industry, he, she or it can typically handle everything from sales to personnel to accounting.

Some clients have viewed receivership as a “last resort” option as most don’t like to relinquish control of a business they’ve grown from the bottom up. This is a valid concern, as a receiver’s powers over a business is usually extremely broad – it can manage all funds, replace a management company, hire and fire employees, obtain new legal counsel, etc. However, especially in the case of a partnership dispute, there are definite upsides. If you’re concerned that funds are being commingled, misappropriated, or flat out stolen, putting in a receiver can safeguard against those concerns for the time-being. Similarly, if you suspect that your partner is unmotivated or may be sinking the ship intentionally, a receiver can step in and make sure that the business is being run optimally. In great cases, a receiver may make the business better than ever by implementing better business practices (think: actually setting up books and records) and stopping any unnecessary bleeding (think: reducing exorbitant salaries or theft of cash and inventory).

Also consult with your attorneys about whether modified receiverships make more sense – in circumstances where a total receivership is inappropriate, the court may consider a “limited purpose receiver” to take charge of a defined aspect of a business (hold the funds, collect the accounts, take charge of the accounting functions, prosecute and settle a lawsuit), leaving you and your partner to run the rest of the business. A receivership may also be used in combination with other remedies, such as injunctions, to accomplish your desired results.

Another thing to note is that any interested party can ask the court to appoint a receiver, like a creditor. This is especially useful as cannabis businesses can’t obtain bankruptcy protection. So, even if a lender can’t go to bankruptcy court, they can go to a state court and ask for a receiver to be appointed to give a distressed cannabis business a better chance of succeeding.

Receivers typically bill hourly (like attorneys and accountants), and they take their fees from the business unless another arrangement has made. Depending on the level of control, a receiver’s total compensation can really range – obviously, another important consideration to keep in mind. Despite the cost, we anticipate that receivers will become much more common in the cannabis industry as it continues to grow.

If you find yourself in a dispute, and particularly a partnership dispute, don’t forget that a receiver might help alleviate a lot of your business concerns while your attorneys fight for your legal ones.