Application, Process, and Best Practices

SarahLee Gossett Parrish Related Seminars and Products

President/CEO

Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish PLLC

David Ruskin Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

David is a partner with the Chicago-based law firm, HMB Legal Counsel.  Following 25 years of litigating business and tax disputes, in 2016 David turned his full energy to focus on providing legal counsel to the cannabis industry, representing entrepreneurs, investors and business owners, both plant touching and ancillary trades.

David Ruskin leads the firm's Cannabis practice. He advises both public and privately companies on a wide range of corporate issues including mergers, acquisitions, and financing and tax transactions. David counsels entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners to help achieve their goals in the Cannabis industry. He represents companies facing business and tax litigation and provides outside general counsel services.

Having worked with cannabis companies for nearly a decade, David’s cannabis practice touches every part of the industry. He represents national and expanding brands, licensed retailers, cultivators and processors, and delivery services. David also advises non-plant touching and start-up companies as they look to grow in the evolving industry, and he helps both investors and companies seeking capital create the appropriate agreement to accomplish their goals.

David helps clients navigate unsettled and differing statutes, regulations, and industry-specific legal developments. He enjoys guiding clients through the state licensing process and counseling on issues that arise from early-stage application steps through the company’s lifespan. David has assisted license holders from over 15 legalized states in expanding their operations into new jurisdictions, empowering them to enter new markets with compliance and confidence.

With extensive litigation experience, David represents clients in an array of issues litigated in the cannabis industry and beyond. He often represents clients in partnership, ownership, and contract disputes and defends clients involved in whistleblower (qui tam), False Claims Act claims, and multistate tax issues. David represents clients before state courts, administrative tax tribunals, appellate, and federal courts.

Prior to joining the firm, David was a partner in the Litigation Group and led the Cannabis practice at HMB Legal Counsel, a well-established, corporate-focused law firm based in Chicago, Illinois.

David was recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” in 2024 for Cannabis Law and Closely and Privately Held Business Law by Leading Lawyers magazine.

*Counsel for the Illinois Craft Cannabis Association in lawsuit against the State of Illinois, Governor Pritzker and Illinois Department of Agriculture for a writ of mandamus compelling the scoring and issuance of craft grower and infuser licenses that were indefinitely suspended by the Governor’s emergency proclamations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Counsel for an Illinois licensed medical cannabis dispensary, for its sale/transfer of its business and related Illinois dispensary licenses, two medical and one adult-use, to a multi-state operator.

*Counsel for numerous applicants for Illinois cannabis licenses, including dispensing organizations, craft growers, infusers, and transporters.

*General counsel for a specialty chocolate maker that produces cannabis infused chocolate edibles. Provided licensing agreements in Washington and California to produce and sell branded products in conjunction with licensed partners in other jurisdictions.

Scheril Murray Powell Related Seminars and Products

Chief Operating Officer

The JUSTUS Foundation Inc.

HIGH TIMES 100 TOP INFLUENCERS IN CANNABIS Scheril Murray Powell, Esq. is an Agricultural, Cannabis, and Dietary Supplement Attorney at Doumar, Allsworth, Laystrom, Voigt, Adair, and Dishowitz LLP and COO at Jusus.foundation She is the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Sub-Committee of the ASTM D37 Committee. Scheril also serves as the Director of Business Development of Creative Services, a FCRA Compliance, Background Screening, and Security Firm. The Daily Business Review has named her one of the Top 12 Cannabis Attorney’s in Florida. Her practice covers both the Marijuana and Hemp Industries, specializing in Cannabinoid legalization and UK Novel Foods registration. She is a Florida licensed Hemp Farmer and is a Research Farmer for the University of Florida. Scheril serves on the Board of one of the oldest Cannabis Advocacy Organizations, Patients Out of Time. She is the former Executive Director of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists of Florida and former Director of Federal Affairs for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Scheril is on the Hemp Pilot Program Advisory Board for the University of Florida and serves on the Broward County, Florida Medical Marijuana Advisory Board. She is on the board for the Friends of Hemp and was a Founding Board Member for the U.S. Hemp Builders Association (not to be confused with the U.S. Hemp Building Association Foundation). She is also President of consulting firm Green Sustainable Strong, LLC. In her spare time she volunteers with the Winrock Foundation delivering Marketing training to Farmers in Ghana, Africa. In 2018, she was a recipient of the Crohns Foundation Blood, Sweat, and Tears Award, and the Cannabis Business Award's Industry MVP Award. 

Dina Rollman Related Seminars and Products

Co-Founder

KND Group

Dina is a leader in the regulated cannabis industry. She is passionate about helping businesses, especially startups, thrive. She has diverse skills gained through her myriad leadership roles in the regulated cannabis industry, including as a government affairs executive, attorney, chief compliance officer, regulatory advisor and liaison, trade association board member, and co-founder/president of a cannabis networking organization. She is committed to helping clients navigate the ever-evolving challenges of operating in highly regulated industries.  

Dina most recently served as Senior Vice President at Green Thumb Industries. She guided it in governmental and regulatory affairs matters at all levels of government, provided counsel on regulatory matters, and established and oversaw Green Thumb’s social equity program.  

Dina began her involvement in the cannabis industry in 2014 by helping Green Thumb apply for and win Illinois cultivation and dispensary licenses. She then served as external and then in-house regulatory compliance and litigation counsel. In 2018 she provided legal and regulatory support in connection with Green Thumb going public on the Canadian Securities Exchange. In 2019 she created and then led its government affairs department. Dina also created and oversaw Green Thumb’s social equity program and created its social equity License Education Application Program (LEAP), which helped applicants navigate the adult use cannabis business application process in Illinois. Through these roles and her informal roles, Dina helped Green Thumb go from an idea on paper in 2014 to a publicly traded company in 2018 and to being an industry leader today.  

Dina is an experienced attorney who, before joining Green Thumb and specializing in cannabis law, was a partner at a business litigation law firm, where she spent a decade representing plaintiffs and defendants in business disputes throughout the country. 

 PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES 

• Co-created and co-taught a Cannabis Law & Policy course as an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law 

• Co-founded and served as President of Illinois Women in Cannabis, a not-for-profit focused on serving, supporting and advancing women in the Illinois cannabis industry 

• Served on multiple cannabis trade association boards 

• Lecture widely on cannabis topics, addressing national trade conferences and national legal conferences. 

 EDUCATION 

• Northwestern University School of Law – Juris Doctor 

• Oberlin College – Bachelor of Arts  

 SELECT INDUSTRY RECOGNITION 

 • The American Lawyer: named a Midwest Trailblazer for 2021 

• Chicago Sun-Times: named one of the 10 most influential people in cannabis for 2018 

• South by Southwest (SXSW): featured speaker in 2024 and 2021 

• Crain’s Chicago Business: identified as cannabis industry leader in 2014, 2019 and 2020