Case Law Update: A comprehensive update on recent Hemp case law

Jason Tarasek Related seminars and products

Attorney | Founder

Minnesota Cannabis Law

Jason Tarasek founded Minnesota Cannabis Law in 2018 to serve the hemp, cannabinoid, medical-marijuana and adult-use marijuana markets in the Upper Midwest. 

During the Spring of 2022, Jason successfully lobbied in favor of Minnesota’s “THC-infused edible” law. Over the course of several months, Jason worked closely with Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, Rep. Heather Edelson, Republican senators and a team of other talented lobbyists to draft and negotiate the terms of the groundbreaking legislation.

Jason has nearly 20 years of legal experience as a transactional attorney and litigator. He has been named to the list of Super Lawyers, which is an honor bestowed on only the top 5% of attorneys in Minnesota.

Jason is a former board member of the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota and provides legal services to entrepreneurs throughout South Dakota who intend on entering the medical-marijuana and adult-use marijuana markets in South Dakota.

Previously, Jason served as the Minnesota Political Director for the Marijuana Policy Project. In this role, he helped draft legislation to legalize recreational marijuana for adults in Minnesota. He helped guide the bill to a legislative hearing during the Spring of 2019, which marked the first time in Minnesota’s history that a legislative committee provided a hearing on a legalization bill.

Jason is a co-founder of Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation (“MRMR”), a multi-partisan advocacy group that presses for marijuana legalization in Minnesota.

Jason is a frequent speaker on legal issues related to hemp, CBD and marijuana. During the Fall/Winter of 2020, Jason served as an Adjunct Professor at Mitchell Hamline Law School, where he taught a seminar titled “Marijuana and the Law.”

Marie Sanchez Related seminars and products

Lawyer & Founder

Nooa Avocats

Marie Sanchez is a lawyer at the Bars of Paris and Quebec. After beginning her career in Singapore with a large pharmaceutical group, she worked for nearly 10 years in renowned international law firms before founding NOOA Avocats.

A specialist in regulatory and contractual aspects related to life sciences, she has also developed expertise in the field of therapeutic cannabis and well-being hemp. She regularly intervenes in the context of training courses as well as in conferences, in France and abroad.

She holds a Master II Professional in Health Industry Law from the University of Montpellier I as well as an ESSEC-Mannheim Executive MBA.

Kai-Friedrich Niermann Related seminars and products

Lawyer

KFN+

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

Andrea Steel Related seminars and products

Partner

Frost Brown Todd LLP

Andrea is a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group as well as a member of the Hemp Industry Team, focusing her practice on both affordable housing and cannabis business law.  In the cannabis space, Andrea has deep rooted knowledge and experience with both hemp and marijuana regulatory and business law. Andrea’s cannabis business clients come from across the supply chain spectrum from cultivators to retailers, as well as distributors, testing labs and more. She advises on regulatory compliance, risk analysis and mitigation, hemp/medical marijuana licensing, cannabis-related business issues and contracts, product labeling/marketing, policy-making participation and real estate issues.

Andrea frequently advises clients on issues unique to the industry, such as delta-8 and other novel cannabinoids, conducting state-by-state research and providing guidance and analysis on proposed laws to policymakers and others. She serves on the Executive Committee of the International Cannabis Bar Association's Governing Board as its Vice President of Operations, as well as co-chairs its Legislative Advisement Committee. She has also been a Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Cannabis Law and Policy Committee since 2021. Andrea is a sought-after speaker at industry events, providing insight into recently approved and proposed laws, rules and regulations and other cannabis business matters. At her prior firm, she successfully launched, led and grew their cannabis business practice group.

In the affordable housing area, Andrea represents both for-profit and non-profit developers across the country, including public and private entities, as well as public housing authorities and tax increment reinvestment zones. Her work is concentrated on the legal representation of developers of affordable housing utilizing both 9% and 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits, tax exempt bond financing, CDBG and HOME Program funding and other federal, state and local subsidy and economic development programs, as well as the stimulus grants created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 including the Tax Credit Assistance Program, Tax Credit Exchange Program (Section 1602 Program) and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Andrea has represented developers in complex transactions which have combined federal and state Historic Tax Credits with LIHTCs and tax-exempt bonds, and transactions which have involved multiple layers of funding including EB-5 and tax increment financing. Her practice also includes closing construction, bridge and/or permanent loans, conventional as well as Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae loans, FHA-insured loans, and state and local financing. Incorporating various economic development incentives is another area in which her creativity and experience allows her to excel.

Andrea’s work with public housing authorities (PHAs) includes closing transactions that include HUD funds and/or HUD-insured mortgages, including Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and mixed-finance transactions, those involving Section 8 financing, 221(d)(4) & 223(f) FHA mortgages, Federal Home Loan Bank AHP loans and CDBG Disaster Recovery funds. She has worked with PHAs throughout Texas in addition to Louisiana, Arkansas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Andrea is also experienced with assisting developers navigate through various state agency processes, including assistance with funding applications, appeals, and compliance issues. Her work also encompasses obtaining ad valorem tax exemptions for qualified projects, and she also assists clients with real estate acquisitions and dispositions.

With both affordable housing and cannabis being industries that necessitate guidance across a wide range of practice areas, Andrea enjoys collaborating with other team members at Frost Brown Todd to provide clients a full suite of legal services on any issue impacting their businesses, including trademarks, patents, e-commerce, tax matters, debt and equity financing opportunities, corporate structuring and more.