Branching Out: Market Expansion in the Cannabis Industry

Shabnam Malek Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Brand & Branch LLP

Shabnam Malek is a partner at Brand & Branch and founding President of the International Cannabis Bar Association. Shabnam's legal background is in trademark law, and she cut her teeth on all things intellectual property as a “big law” associate early in her legal career. Shabnam has a broad practice but takes great pleasure in advising clients on how best to grow, navigate risk, resolve disputes, and how to think creatively when balancing business needs and legal concerns. Recognized as an expert in the field of cannabis intellectual property, Shabnam’s clients and colleagues seek her out for her expertise in addressing particularly thorny and novel issues. She’s a creative thinker looking for solutions that help her clients succeed. Shabnam truly enjoys the role of counselor to large, global companies as well as smaller startups and individuals. 

In addition to serving the business community, Shabnam developed a robust pro bono practice representing imprisoned women before the California Board of Parole Hearings, as well as representing houseless San Francisco residents through the Coalition on Homelessness. 

During the launch of Brand & Branch, Shabnam and her law partner, Amanda R. Conley, founded the National Cannabis Bar Association, which recently expanded its reach to become the International Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA). Today, INCBA boasts a membership base of over 600 individual attorney members with a solid international presence. Shabnam and Amanda's vision for the organization was realized in the organization's flagship, annual two-day legal educational event, the Cannabis Law Institute. Shabnam is also the Chair of the PLI Cannabis Business Law program. Shabnam and Amanda also co-founded the Bay Area chapter of Women Grow in 2014.

Shabnam regularly speaks and writes on the topics of trademarks, brand expansion, regulated industries such as cannabis and hemp, and the role of women in creating change. Her professional affiliations include: holding a seat on the Board of Directors of the International Cannabis Bar Association, membership with the International Trademark Association and California Lawyers' Association, where she serves on committees, and memberships with the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild, the Queen’s Bench, and the Bar Association of San Francisco. Shabnam was named a Northern California Rising Star three years in a row by Super Lawyers Magazine.

James Gourley Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Carstens, Allen & Gourley, LLP

James R. Gourley practices primarily in the following areas:

• Commercial Litigation, including Intellectual Property Litigation
• Intellectual Property Prosecution
• Entertainment Law

Mr. Gourley has prosecuted and obtained patents for clients in a wide range of technology fields, including:

• Oil and gas production
• Mobile electronics accessories
• Computer software
• Food chemistry
• Product packaging
• Medical devices
• Pet care
• Nuclear energy
• Pumps and compressors

He has also applied for and obtained federally registered trademarks for clients in many different industries.  Mr. Gourley understands that intellectual property rights are among a company’s most valuable assets, and he has been successful in helping companies build strong intellectual property portfolios.  He has also negotiated a variety of intellectual property licensing, development, and employment agreements, and provided intellectual property due diligence advice with respect to corporate merger and acquisition transactions.

Mr. Gourley has represented individual artists and filmmakers as parties to copyright infringement lawsuits in federal court.  He has also represented start-up internet companies with a wide variety of copyright, trademark, and patent issues.  He has also helped clients enforce and defend patent, trademark, and other commercial rights in court, including recently serving as lead defense counsel in the first ever patent infringement lawsuit in the field of cannabis formulation.

Mr. Gourley earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Southern Methodist University in 2005.  Prior to law school, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering.  His undergraduate education exposed him to a wide range of technical courses, including high level organic and physical chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mechanics, electronics, and computer science, which gives him the unique ability to help companies protect technology in many different fields.

Mr. Gourley is a registered patent attorney before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  He currently serves on the Board of the Dallas Bar Association, Intellectual Property Section.  He is also a member of the State Bar of Texas, and he is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas.

Brian Ruden Related Seminars and Products

Owner

Star Buds

Brian Ruden is an attorney and one of the pioneers of the legal marijuana industry in Colorado. He earned a J.D. from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, and began his cannabis career in 2010 with the acquisition of Tree of Wellness, a medical marijuana center in Colorado Springs with an associated cultivation operation in Denver.

In 2013, Mr. Ruden founded Starbuds, which has become one of the largest marijuana dispensary brands in the Colorado marketplace. The Starbuds brand now encompasses eight retail marijuana dispensaries, with three additional locations under construction, a cultivation operation, and a manufacturing facility that produces a comprehensive range of marijuana concentrates for wholesale distribution statewide.

Mr. Ruden’s legal training has given him a competitive advantage in navigating the complex layers of administrative regulation which govern the marijuana industry. He has successfully managed compliance across roughly a dozen separate marijuana regulatory jurisdictions, each with its own unique requirements for operations, safety, and security.

The seed-to-dispensing marijuana experience and legal background gives Mr. Ruden unique understanding and qualification in the marijuana industry. Due to this, he has become a sought-after consultant and is personally involved in teams pursuing marijuana opportunities in other states. Mr. Ruden also has ownership in licensed marijuana businesses in Hawaii and Washington D.C. and now Louisiana with The Apothecary Shoppe.

Mitchel Kay Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

PTS Corp.