Business Law – Formation 301- Business entity litigation for cannabis businesses

SarahLee Gossett Parrish Related Seminars and Products

President/CEO

Sarah Lee Gossett Parrish PLLC

Dean Richardson Related Seminars and Products

Director

Fennemore Craig, P.C

Dean is a trial lawyer with extensive litigation experience representing a variety of clients in commercial, cannabis, trade secret, real estate, and franchise disputes. He offers counsel in cases involving business torts, contracts, securities, director and officer defense and franchise law. Dean also protects and enforces client interests in shareholder disputes, and situations related to a breach of fiduciary duty. Within the scope of his real estate practice, Dean provides counsel in real property conflicts related to land ownership, construction defects, and title insurance defense.

Dean has prosecuted and defended cases in state and federal courts in Colorado and throughout the country. He has drafted and successfully argued numerous appellate briefs on behalf of his clients.

Outside of the office, Dean enjoys live music, traveling, playing golf, snowboarding, stand-up comedy, and watching The University of Tennessee football team win national championships.

Since 2021, Chambers USA: America’s leading lawyers for business, Chambers and Partners ranked Dean Richardson as a leading nationwide Cannabis Law attorney, band 2.

Bryna Dahlin Related Seminars and Products

Chair, Cannabis Industry Group

Benesch

Bryna Dahlin is a partner and chair of the Cannabis Industry Group at Benesch, where she works on the cutting edge of an emerging industry known for its regulatory complexity and challenging legal and business landscape. For nearly a decade, she has advised companies in all sectors of the cannabis space including growers, manufacturers, distributors, dispensaries, investors and ancillary businesses. She also advises non-cannabis companies that are impacted by cannabis laws. Her clients are nationwide and range from new entrants in the space to publicly-traded companies operating across dozens of states.

Bryna enjoys helping clients achieve their business objectives and prides herself on gaining a keen understanding of their operations. She offers real-world guidance that is clear, practical, and always focused on achieving client objectives. She understands the challenges in the cannabis industry and loves nothing more than seeing her clients grow and meet their business goals.

Bryna advises clients across the country on issues of regulatory compliance, risk avoidance, company formation and structuring, licensing, corporate and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, advertising and product packaging, brand strategy and intellectual property protection. She also performs legal due diligence for investors in the cannabis space, and guides hemp, health and beauty brand clients in navigating Cannabidiol (CBD) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laws.

Bryna is also a skilled trial lawyer who uses her skills to help clients avoid and mitigate risk, and she does not hesitate to litigate when the circumstances call for it. Beyond cannabis, she has represented prominent food, pharmaceutical, entertainment, advertising, technology and consumer product companies in an array of high-profile cases.

Bryna’s career trajectory reflects her commitment to pursuing her professional aspirations regardless of the obstacles. When the cannabis industry was in its infancy, she left her position with a global law firm and co-founded the first cannabis law firm in Illinois before later bringing this practice to Benesch. Bryna serves as pro bono counsel to the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). She is a founding member of the Illinois Cannabis Bar Association, and member of the International Cannabis Bar, National Cannabis Industry Associations, and Illinois Women in Cannabis.

Bryna has lectured across the country on the ever-evolving landscape in cannabis law and served as an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she taught Illinois’ first law course on cannabis. She is nationally ranked by Chambers & Associates for cannabis law, is a Global Top 200 cannabis lawyer, and her cannabis practice group is recognized by the prestigious Legal 500. Past honors have included Crain’s Notable Women in Law, Super Lawyers, and the National Law Journal’s 40 under 40 in Chicago.

Phillip Neiman Related Seminars and Products

Mediator & Arbitrator | Counsel - AI, Data Privacy

NeimanADR

Phillip Neiman, Esq. FCIArb, AIGP, CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPM is a mediator and arbitrator, specializing in the resolution of complex business and commercial disputes.  He devotes much of his practice to securities and investment-related cases, including shareholder, partnership and M&A disputes, and has substantial experience in a range of other areas, including employment, data privacy, IP, real property, professional liability and privacy tort cases, as well as fintech, cryptocurrency and cannabis sector disputes. Prior to establishing his ADR practice, Mr. Neiman spent a decade as CEO and General Counsel of a FINRA-registered broker-dealer.

Mr. Neiman holds a B.A. in Economics with high honors from Swarthmore College, a J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He also holds AIGP, CIPP/US, CIPP/E and CIPM certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). 

Based in San Francisco, Mr. Neiman hears cases nationwide and is available to conduct remote mediations and arbitrations on multiple platforms.

Tom Haren Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Frantz Ward LLP

Tom represents growing businesses at each stage of their development, and is regularly asked to serve as outside general counsel for his clients. In that role, Tom advises his clients with respect to innumerable legal issues, including regulatory compliance, corporate governance, contract negotiations, risk management, litigation and other day-to-day business issues. He often works with his clients to overcome short-term regulatory and financial uncertainty to achieve long-term success in developing markets.

As a result, Tom is one of the most sought after attorneys serving the Ohio and national cannabis industry, in which he represents licensed operators in medical and adult use markets, ancillary service providers, and companies operating in the hemp industry. He supports clients with everything from license acquisition, zoning and municipal law, to product labeling and packaging and regulatory compliance. Tom has also led some of the largest M&A deals in the Ohio cannabis market, representing both the selling license holders and acquiring entities.

His record of achievement as an expert in one of the most rapidly growing segments in the country has earned him considerable recognition, including the Crain's Cleveland Business' 2021 list of Forty Under 40. He has been named to Chambers USA: A Guide to Leading Lawyers in Business in the area of Cannabis Law, is one of the Top 7 Cannabis Attorneys in the U.S. (The Vape Report) and is on The Best Lawyers in America list in the area of Cannabis Law. He has also been named to the Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. As a result of his national reputation, Tom is an avid contributor to various local and national media outlets and often is asked to share his expertise by speaking at industry conferences and events.

Tom is also a former nominee for the State Senate. He knows how important it is to build consensus at the local and State level to further clients' interests. Tom has served on the firm’s Management Committee since January 2024.