Cannabis

  • January 21, 2025

    Medical Cannabis REIT Misled Investors, Suit Claims

    A medical cannabis-focused real estate investment trust lied to its shareholders about the profitability of its leasing operations and declining rents, a new suit has alleged in Maryland federal court.

  • January 21, 2025

    Justices Doubt Retailers Are 'Bystanders' In FDA Challenge

    Several U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared to agree Tuesday that Texas and Mississippi retailers could join a North Carolina e-cigarette manufacturer in challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's denial of its marketing application, and Justice Clarence Thomas questioned the agency's motivation to argue otherwise.

  • January 21, 2025

    Pot Co. Stiiizy Hit With Data Breach Suit

    An employee of cannabis retailer Stiiizy Inc. is suing the company in Los Angeles court, alleging that it failed to protect consumer and employee information, resulting in a data breach last year, and then went nearly three months without telling the victims what happened.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump, Musk Sued By Nonprofits Over DOGE Transparency

    Public Citizen and other nonprofits hit the Trump administration with multiple lawsuits seeking to shut down the new Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Monday, alleging the Elon Musk-led advisory committee targeting government waste lacks requisite transparency guardrails to prevent DOGE from solely advancing private interests.

  • January 17, 2025

    Philip Morris' ZYN Nicotine Pouches Are 1st To Get FDA's OK

    Tobacco giant Philip Morris is the first to secure permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell nicotine pouches, with the agency allowing several flavored variants of the company's popular ZYN brand to hit the market after finding that the products could "benefit" smokers looking to quit cigarettes.

  • January 17, 2025

    Up Next At High Court: Forum Shopping & TCPA Definitions

    The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Tuesday for a short argument session, during which the justices will consider the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's bid to limit forum shopping by manufacturers challenging agency decisions and how much deference district courts must give to Federal Communications Commission orders.

  • January 17, 2025

    DEA Judge Kicks Pot Rescheduling Back To Administrator

    The Drug Enforcement Administration judge who paused hearings on a proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana has kicked the matter back to the agency's administrator after reformers said the DEA stacked the deck against changing pot's status.

  • January 17, 2025

    Pot Labs Say Mass. Co. Sold Dud Test Devices In $286M Suit

    The owners of more than two dozen cannabis testing labs across the United States and Canada have accused PerkinElmer Health Services Inc. of knowingly selling them equipment that it knew was incapable of handling the sort of tests the labs performed.

  • January 17, 2025

    LPL Fined $18M Over Lax Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined LPL Financial LLC $18 million to settle claims that the firm's anti-money laundering program suffered from significant shortcomings, including the failure to close high-risk accounts such as cannabis-related and international accounts.

  • January 17, 2025

    Lowenstein Sandler Can Pursue Trimmed Dispensary Fee Suit

    A New Jersey state court judge dismissed part of Lowenstein Sandler LLP's $800,000 fee suit against a cannabis dispensary former client Thursday and told the firm it must give the former client the notice of its right to resolve the fee dispute through arbitration.

  • January 16, 2025

    Former NY Cannabis Regulator Backs Embattled Program

    The former leader of New York's cannabis regulator and an architect of the state's marijuana legalization law on Thursday defended the integrity of the agency before a roomful of cannabis attorneys, some of whom have litigated against its core policies.

  • January 16, 2025

    Swedish Match Wants 'Copycat' Sham Patent Suit Nixed

    Swedish Match urged a Virginia federal judge to toss a proposed class action it said largely parrots a since-settled antitrust suit from which consumers can draw no basis for claims the tobacco company used litigation to drive a nicotine pouch rival out of the market.

  • January 16, 2025

    Md. Gov. Pitches Taxing High Earners, Combined Reporting

    Maryland's governor proposed higher income tax rates for people who make more than $500,000 and adopting water's-edge combined reporting for its corporate income tax in his 2026 budget proposal.

  • January 16, 2025

    1st Circ. Vacates Most Of Atty's Marijuana Bribe Conviction

    The First Circuit vacated a pair of fraud convictions for a Massachusetts attorney charged in a marijuana bribery scheme, finding that sending an iMessage through an Apple cellphone is not enough to satisfy the wire fraud element requiring interstate communication.

  • January 15, 2025

    Mich. US Atty Talks Rooting Out Public Corruption 'Poison'

    U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said Wednesday he's proud of his office's work prosecuting Michigan's former speaker for taking bribes from players in the state's nascent marijuana industry, calling the corruption crackdown vital to maintaining a healthy democracy, as he reflected on his time as the top federal prosecutor for the Western District of Michigan. 

  • January 15, 2025

    CBD Oil Co. Says Brokers, Suppliers Lied About Hemp Quality

    A New Jersey hemp producer and CBD oil extractor is suing a pair of brokers and hemp suppliers in federal court, alleging that despite promising and charging for high-quality biomass, they instead supplied "dirt quality" hemp with far lower potency than advertised.

  • January 15, 2025

    Ex-Pot Co. Director Wants Trade Secrets Claims Tossed

    A former operations director for Curaleaf Inc. is asking a Colorado federal court to throw out the company's claims that he breached a confidentiality agreement and shared information with a former business partner.

  • January 15, 2025

    Mass. Justices Bolster Local Enforcement Of Tobacco Laws

    Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday that local public health officials do not have to go to court to fine businesses caught violating the state's tobacco laws, including restrictions on the sale of flavored products.

  • January 15, 2025

    DHS Wants NM Pot Cos.' Property Seizure Suit Tossed

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are urging a New Mexico federal court to toss claims by eight cannabis companies alleging that federal agents wrongfully seized cannabis, money and property at checkpoints.

  • January 14, 2025

    Cannabis Reformers Split After DEA Judge Cancels Hearings

    The cannabis legal and business world was divided Tuesday after a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration judge hit pause on widely anticipated and historic public hearings on the merits of a proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana.

  • January 14, 2025

    Cannabist Moves Illinois Oil Potency Case To Federal Court

    The Cannabist Co. Holdings and its affiliated companies have removed to federal court a suit alleging they make products using highly potent cannabis oils without warning consumers that the amounts of THC are illegal in Illinois.

  • January 14, 2025

    Insurer Says It Owes No Coverage In Pot Co. Death Suit

    Trisura Specialty Insurance Co. has told a Florida federal court exceptions to Trulieve Inc.'s insurance policy relieve it from having to defend the cannabis company from a wrongful death suit.

  • January 14, 2025

    Curaleaf's Ex-CEO Wants Out Of Ex-VP's Pay, Sex Bias Suit

    The former CEO of Curaleaf Holdings Inc. is urging a Massachusetts federal court to toss a former senior vice president's claims against him in a suit alleging the company discriminated against her for her gender and race, saying the state's courts don't have jurisdiction over him.

Expert Analysis

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Notable 2024 Trademark Cases And What To Watch In 2025

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    Emerging disputes between established tech giants and smaller trademark holders promise to test the boundaries of trademark protection in 2025, following a 2024 marked with disputes in areas ranging from cybersquatting to geographic marks, says Danner Kline at Bradley Arant.

  • Ring In The New Year With An Updated Employee Handbook

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    One of the best New Year's resolutions employers can make is to update their employee handbooks, given that a handbook can mitigate, or even prevent, costly litigation as long as it accounts for recent changes in laws, court rulings and agency decisions, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

  • Opinion

    6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

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    Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

  • How Landlords Can Navigate Cannabis-Related Leases

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    As the cannabis industry continues to rapidly grow, landlords should consider a variety of lease terms and operational details that may help mitigate uncertainty involving federal laws, zoning restrictions and tax implications, says Kyla Baker at Holland & Knight.

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Series

    Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • What New Calif. Law Means For Cannabis Lounges

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    With a recently enacted California law authorizing licensed cannabis retailers and microbusinesses to prepare and sell noncannabis food and beverages, the door opens for a more sustainable business model — but challenges related to costs and liability remain, says Tracy Gallegos at Duane Morris.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

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