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Swain, LLC

Owner & Principal

I am an experienced litigator and seasoned investigator providing counsel for businesses and individuals in a wide array of civil matters in federal and state court and before regulatory agencies. I worked with some of the most effective and sought-after litigators and corporate investigators before starting my own firm, Swain, LLC.  I take pride in helping businesses and individuals navigate complex legal issues in and out of court, tailor compliance policies to practical and effective business practices, conduct compliance audits by internal investigation, and defending entities facing regulatory enforcement actions--without breaking the bank. I live in Brookline with my wife Kristen and our golden retriever Hudson, read voraciously, and cook every chance I get.  

More about my practice and background: 

My litigation practice focuses on complex business disputes, including breach of contract, fraud, interests in real and intellectual property, and securities law, among others.  I practice actively in trial and appellate courts in the federal and state court systems.

I also maintain an extensive regulatory practice, a substantial portion of which involves representing and advising clients in the beverage alcohol and cannabis industries.  I have significant experience conducting complicated internal investigations for clients seeking to identify and remedy regulatory compliance concerns, design and implement organizational changes and best practices, and defend against regulatory enforcement actions.  I also represent clients before the Federal Election Commission. 

Prior to founding Swain Law LLC, I spent several years as an attorney in the Litigation Department at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York, where I worked on a wide variety of matters, served on Gibson Dunn’s eDiscovery Committee, and led the firm’s pro bono Guardianship Project and Holocaust Reparations Project.

In 2007, I left Gibson Dunn for six months to serve as deputy counsel to a presidential campaign committee, where I represented the campaign in enforcement matters before the Federal Election Commission.  I continued to represent clients before the FEC after rejoining Gibson Dunn in 2008

After moving to Boston and recovering from the major surgery that brought me here, I accepted a position as Of Counsel at MG+M The Law Firm, a Boston-based national law firm.  While there, I handled commercial litigation in federal and state courts in Massachusetts involving a range of claims, including, for example, breach of contract, unfair business practices, infringement on intellectual property rights, and breach of privacy rights.  In particular, I handled complex motion practice and appeals for some of MG+M’s largest clients, including Boeing, Colgate, and Texas Instruments. 
 

Education

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 2005
Member, Georgetown International Environmental Law Review  

University of Pennsylvania, B.A., Political Science, cum laude, 2002
 

Bar Admissions 

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts 
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York 
Massachusetts State Bar 
New York State Bar 

 

Boston,

MA

02108-4420


Vicente LLP

Partner

David M. Ullian is a partner in Vicente LLP's Boston Office, where he advises clients with a wide variety of cannabis regulatory, licensing, permitting, compliance, and land use and zoning matters. He has extensive experience in the Massachusetts market, assisting a range of commercial cannabis clients, from multi-state operators to small family-owned companies, to navigate the evolving regulatory landscapes of the cannabis industry.

David routinely represents clients seeking host community agreements, special permits, site plan approvals and operating permits in municipalities across Massachusetts, and he has helped dozens of clients successfully obtain and maintain both medical and adult-use cannabis business licenses from the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. David also guides clients undergoing complex regulatory changes of ownership and control, represents licensees subject to administrative enforcement actions, and assists cannabis businesses to mediate commercial disputes.

Since 2021, David has been recognized by his peers in the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch" list for his work in land use and zoning law. He was also recognized as one of "Boston's Top Lawyers" by Boston Magazine in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

David received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law, where he served as an Editor for the American Journal of Law & Medicine and completed a Concentration in Health Law with Honors. During law school, he worked as a legal intern at Boston Children’s Hospital, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. After law school, David was awarded a BU Law Public Service Fellowship to work in the General Counsel’s Office at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He received his B.A. from Amherst College, and before law school, he worked as a Corporate Legal Assistant in the New York Office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

David is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Vicente LLP

Partner

Charlie Alovisetti is a partner at Vicente LLP and chair of the firm's Corporate Department. Recognized by Chambers & Partners as one of the top cannabis lawyers in the United States, he is also co-author of The Business of Cannabis: Understanding Law, Finance, and Governance in America’s Newest Industry.

 

Charlie focuses his practice on advising investors, companies, and other law firms on the nuances of executing corporate transactions involving licensed and ancillary cannabis companies. With experience working on licensed transactions in all major cannabis markets in the United States, Charlie has a deep understanding of the state and local issues that commonly arise in stock and asset acquisitions and issues involved in management companies and other alternative structures. This experience and knowledge make him a vital resource for clients. He also has experience counseling portfolio and emerging growth companies with respect to general corporate and commercial matters and compensation arrangements.

 

In addition to his corporate practice, Charlie provides specialized cannabis counsel to non-cannabis companies seeking to evaluate the risks of entering the cannabis space and structure their investments to reduce risks.

 

Prior to joining Vicente LLP, Charlie worked as an associate in the New York offices of Latham & Watkins and Goodwin, where he represented public companies and private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a range of corporate transactions.

 

Charlie holds a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from McGill University and a law degree from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is admitted to practice in Colorado, Massachusetts, and New York.

 

Recognized as a thought leader and experienced practitioner in the areas of cannabis M&A and financings, Charlie is an author and frequent speaker at events. In addition to his recognition by Chambers, he was named one of Boston's Top Lawyers by Boston magazine in 2021 and 2022. During his time practicing in Colorado, Charlie participated in a number of working groups related to the cannabis industry, including the group focused on HB19-1090—the bill that permitted public company investment.

Boston,

MA

02199


Boston University School of Law

Professor

Professor Jay Wexler has taught at Boston University School of Law since 2001. He earned tenure in 2007 and was awarded the Michael Melton Award for Excellence in Teaching at the law school in 2009. Professor Wexler’s scholarship focuses on church-state law, constitutional law, environmental law, and marijuana law. His articles, essays, and reviews have been published in the BYU Law Review, George Washington Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Minnesota Law Review, Texas Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, Washington University Law Review, and William and Mary Law Review, among other places.

Professor Wexler is also the author of six books. His most recent volume, Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life, was published in 2019 by Redwood Press, the trade imprint of Stanford University Press, and won a 2019 Independent Publishers Gold Medal award in the Religion category. His current book project, which is under contract with the University of California Press for publication in 2022, is entitled Weed Rules: Toward a Just, Joyous, and Sensible Marijuana Policy in a Post-Legalization Nation. Professor Wexler’s shorter pieces have appeared in places like the Boston Globe, Huffington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Mental Floss, National Geographic’s NewsWatch, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Salon, Slate, Spy, USA Today, and Vox.

Wexler speaks on church-state and other constitutional issues across the United States and internationally. In the fall of 2014, he taught on a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Buenos Aires. He has previously taught constitutional civil liberties at the University of Lyon 3 and church-state law on a Fulbright Fellowship at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. He has delivered lectures on constitutional and environmental topics in Bangkok, Hanoi, Madrid, Moscow, Oslo, Santiago, Tallinn, and Warsaw. In addition, Professor Wexler has appeared as a church-state law expert in the documentary film Hail Satan? which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018, and in an episode of the Emmy award winning A&E series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.

Before coming to BU Law, Professor Wexler worked as a law clerk for Judge David Tatel on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the United States Supreme Court. From 1999 to 2001, he was an attorney advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice where he provided advice on constitutional and statutory issues to various members of the executive branch.

Sheehan & Associates

Attorney

Megan Sheehan is the owner of Sheehan & Associates Law, a boutique firm in Lexington, MA and Barrington, RI. Megan represents small to mid sized cannabis businesses, both plant touching and ancillary, providing services for business formation, contracts, commercial leases, capital raising, and mergers and acquisitions. Megan's firm is truly a family business- she practices with her mother and her two brothers also work at the firm. Before having her second career as a lawyer, Megan worked in operations for small businesses and non-profits. Megan also has a strong background in community organizing and activism, having worked with community radio stations and in healthcare organizing. Megan received her BA from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, and her JD from Vermont Law School. Megan enjoys reading fiction, biking, hanging with her son and husband, and swimming. 

SCS Solutions, LLC

State of Rhode Island, Office of Cannabis Regulation

Legal Counsel

Warwick,

RI

02886


Sullivan & Worcester LLP

Partner

Joe Segilia is a partner in the capital markets group at Sullivan & Worcester LLP. Joe's practice focuses on corporate and securities matters, including capital markets transactions, securities laws, and mergers and acquisitions. He advises clients with respect to ongoing corporate governance and disclosure matters, including compliance with Securities Exchange Act of 1934 requirements, stock exchange listing standards and Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance. Prior to joining Sullivan, Joe was one of the first in-house counsels of a publicly-traded cannabis company.

The Law Offices of Joseph D. Bernard

Attorney

Springfield,

MA

01144


Groupe SGF

Québec,

QC

G1R 2k5


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