Bryna counsels companies in established and emerging industries at all stages of development. She is widely known for effectively navigating the cutting-edge legal issues present in the fast-growing cannabis industry. Her clients range from growers, distributors, product manufacturers and ancillary businesses to outside investors and traditional companies impacted by cannabis laws. Bryna also advises on issues of regulatory compliance; risk avoidance; interplay between state and federal law; contracts and licensing; advertising and product packaging; and intellectual property. 

Bryna is also a highly experienced litigator, zealously advocating for her clients in federal and state courts at both the trial court and appellate levels. Past representations include prominent domestic and foreign food, beverage, pharmaceutical, entertainment, advertising and consumer product companies. Bryna was recognized for her legal acumen in 2013 by the National Law Journal, which named her as one of Chicago’s “40 Under 40,” and she has been named an Illinois “Super Lawyer” or “Rising Star” since 2010. In the spring of 2016, she taught Illinois’ first cannabis law course at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

As a cannabis attorney, Jessica Gonzalez assists cannabis clients navigate the legal cannabis and hemp industry in the tristate area. She has counseled start up and medium sized cannabis/CBD companies on various matters, including corporate entity set-up, state and local compliance, private offering documents and applications for state cannabis licenses. Jessica also counsels corporate and individual clients on intellectual property procurement, prosecution, protection and enforcement for domestic and international trademarks. As cannabis advocate, Jessica has presented on both the municipal and state level on topics such as social justice/social equity, IP protection, cannabis legislation, state and federal banking and state cannabis licensing.

Rod is a cannabis business law attorney. Based in North Carolina and Mexico, Rod represents legal cannabis businesses throughout the world and is editor and chief writer of the Kight On Cannabis law blog. Rod is the author of “Cannabis Business Law-What You Need to Know”, published by Aspatore Books. He has served on the advisory board for the American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine, for which he has also written a legal column. Rod also created the “Source Rule”, which is widely regarded as a primary legal foundation for the contemporary hemp market in cannabinoids and other cannabis materials.

Rod is frequently quoted on cannabis matters by trade publications and major media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Time, Politico, and Business Insider. Additionally, Rod has been listed in MG Magazine's list of "30 Powerful Litigators", Hemp Connoisseur Magazine’s list of “100 People You Should Know”, and High Time's "2020 Leaders in Cannabis Law." He is part of the legal teams in two high-profile cases against the DEA and the Texas Department of State Health Services regarding hemp extracts, has drafted and presented cannabis legislation to a foreign head of state, is a member of the board of directors of a publicly traded Canadian cannabis and psychedelics company, testified to the FDA about CBD and cannabis compounds, and is a partner in a Mexican import-export company focused on legal cross-border hemp transactions. Rod routinely advises in-house counsel and C-suite level executives on cannabis issues. He has discussed cannabis legal issues in numerous seminars to lawyers, business executives, and public officials and is regularly asked to be a guest speaker on US and inter- national podcasts about cannabis and psychedelics.

Rod is a strong believer in cannabis for personal and medical use after using it successfully during chemotherapy treatments for cancer (he is in remission). He has been an attorney advocate for NORML and has also been a member of the International Cannabis Bar Association, the National Cannabis Industry Association, the Hemp Industries Association, and the Southeast Hemp Association.

Lauren previously co-founded of Hiller, PC's cannabis law practice. What started as a
passion project in patient rights during a brief residency in California, Lauren has become
one of the Nation’s preeminent cannabis attorneys. Her practice is centered upon the
representation of start-up organizations and investors. With her diverse background in
corporate law, litigation, and land-use and zoning, she provides clients with the most up-
to-date information necessary to operate and invest in successful cannabis and ancillary
businesses. Lauren has run successful applications in competitive medical cannabis states
and adult-use markets alike, and represents a broad spectrum of cannabis and hemp
clients, including plant-touching breeders, cultivators, processors, and product
manufacturers; investors, including family offices and angels; and multiple ancillary
businesses, including networking associations, packaging businesses, ingredient
manufacturers, medical professionals, and industry consultants. Lauren is also a member
of the legal team that brought an action against former Attorney General Sessions and the
federal government seeking, among other things, a declaration that the mis-classification
of cannabis as a Schedule I drug is unconstitutional, on, among other things, due process,
equal protection, free speech, and commerce clause grounds.

Lauren is an Expert Contributor to Marijuana Venture Magazine, a frequent
speaker at national and local cannabis events, including, among others, MJ Biz Con, the
Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition, NCIA, Emerald Cup, and the Women
Grow Leadership Summit and provides pro bono legal and advocacy services to the
Cannabis Cultural Association, among others. Lauren also serves on the Executive
Committee of the Board of Directors for the International Cannabis Bar Association, as
the organization’s Treasurer. Lauren enjoys an extensive network of cannabis
professionals nationwide, enabling her to provide full legal and business services to her
clients.

Experienced attorney, compliance professional, and business strategist with a focus on all things that live at the intersection of law and cannabis. 

My former position as the leader of the International Cannabis Bar Association allows me to see the complex legal landscape of the cannabis industry emerge in real time at the local, state, federal, and international level. My background in complex financial regulation gave me the tools to understand and unwind complex regulatory structures and my deep curiosity around emerging markets drives me to explore and understand the unique rules, opportunities, players, and iterations of the developing cannabis industry. 

Kai has been a business and corporate lawyer in Germany for almost 17 years gaining wide range of experiences in the process. He is very familiar with the interconnectivity between national and European regulations, especially in regard to consumer protection, product safety and emerging new cannabis products. He has engaged in advocacy relating to cannabis beginning in early stages of his studies at Philipps University Marburg when the German Supreme Court ruled that small amounts of cannabis should not be criminalized. After medical cannabis was legalized in Germany, Kai started a legal blog (canna-biz.legal) on all the relevant new developments in the emerging cannabis market and became a legal expert especially for CBD products. 

He regularly speaks at international cannabis conferences on topics of the German and European legal framework. Lastly, he spoke at the Cannabis Expo in Johannesburg, at the ICBC 2021 in Berlin and at the ICBC and CB Expo 2021 in Zurich on the legal framework for a future recreational cannabis market in Germany. He regularly publishes articles in BusinessCann and German law journals. Kai and his law firm KFN+ advise major CBD and medical cannabis companies, as well as companies interested in the emerging recreational cannabis market.

Kai is also legal advisor to the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), which is working on a Novel Food joint application for different CBD products.

Memberships: German Bar Association (DAV), International Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA, Member of Advisory Board), European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), German Hemp Association (DHV), Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP Germany), Branchenverband Cannabiswirtschaft (BvCW).

Born in Löhne/Westf. in 1972, studied law at the Universities of Marburg, Adelaide (Australia), Cologne, legal expert at the press center of the German Federal Diet, worked for the Berlin District Court, for the Director of Public Prosecution in Berlin, for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Hong Kong Consulate General.

Areas of Law:

• Legal Cannabis Consulting
• regulatory approvals for medical cannabis and CBD
• Business law (company, commercial and contract law) 
• Law of torts
• criminal business law

Josh Kappel is a founding partner of Vicente Sederberg specializing in risk assessment for
multinational corporations and financial transactions in the highly regulated cannabis industry. He also routinely provides advice to patients, caregivers, and businesses about cannabis, licensing, regulatory compliance, general business and transactional law, and the intersection of state and federal law. Recently Josh has focused his time on the two largest cannabis markets in the world: California and Canada.

Bob Hoban sits at the center of the world’s largest commercial cannabis industry network; a cannabis industry ecosystem that he has painstakingly cultivated since 2008.  Since the cannabis industry became commercialized, he has been widely credited for creating the class of lawyers now known as “cannabis attorneys.”  He is known for the tremendous value that he places in his relationships and is not satisfied unless he can help his business clients thrive in this burgeoning global industry; an industry he has played a significant role in establishing.  Bob has earned a reputation as a cannabis industry dealmaker representing start-ups, entrepreneurs, and companies in all stages of development.  Mr. Hoban has truly transcended the practice of law and is regularly involved in assembling and structuring large scale cannabis industry M&A transactions.  Above all else, Bob is a cannabis industry expert.  

Beginning in 2008, he deliberately constructed the Hoban Law Group (HLG) to become the world’s leading full-service commercial cannabis industry law firm; the first of its kind.  Since that time, HLG has indeed become the world’s leading cannabis industry law firm, with offices in seventeen states and ten nations abroad, and over fifty attorneys who specialize in all aspects of the commercial practice surrounding the cannabis industry. For nearly ten years, HLG has represented the cannabis industry’s titans in every aspect of the commercial cannabis industry around the world.  And he is largely responsible for the establishment and growth of the CBD industry due to his legal strategies, litigation matters, and policy efforts executed on behalf of HLG clients.    

From 2010-2016, Bob served as one of the Nation’s first cannabis policy instructors at the University of Denver, where he regularly lectured regarding cannabis topics (government regulations, public policy, and research-based policy courses), and where he led a University-sanctioned research practicum concerning the efficacy of marijuana regulation; the first of its kind in the U.S.  He then taught several international travel courses concerning the emergence of the global cannabis industry.  Because of this academic background, Bob has been asked to work with dozens of governments across the U.S., Asia, the E.U., and Latin America (over thirty different countries) on crafting their commercial cannabis public policy solutions (legislation and regulations).  And he has served on a variety of national, state, and local task forces related to cannabis policy issues.         

He has consistently been recognized as one of the most influential people in the global cannabis industry by a variety of organizations and publications over the course of the past ten-plus years.  Since 2013, Bob has achieved the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating, awarded to only those lawyers with the highest ethical standards and professional ability.  He was recently named a “Cannabis Law Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal, and he has been consistently recognized as one of “Denver’s Top Cannabis Lawyers” for nearly a decade.    

Bob frequently appears in media coverage as a legal expert on cannabis and has been a keynote speaker at dozens of cannabis events around the world.  He has conducted hundreds of interviews regarding marijuana policy for international, national, state, and local media outlets.  Major media outlets like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Rolling Stone, Forbes, VICE, MSNBC, and Bloomberg all have called on Bob for his unique perspective on the cannabis industry.