Federal Policy - The Future of FDA and Cannabis Regulation

Amber Littlejohn, Esq. Related Seminars and Products

Of Counsel

Ice Miller LLP

Amber Littlejohn has served as a lawyer, strategist, and advocate for businesses in emerging markets for more than 15 years, providing government and business affairs services to businesses, nonprofit organizations, and lawmakers in regulated industries. She creates innovative legislative, regulatory, and public engagement strategies to access and grow markets, stabilize supply chains, and reduce crisis frequency and reach.

Named a Top Cannabis Lobbyist by Business Insider, Amber is a nationally recognized voice for the cannabis industry and related policy initiatives appearing regularly in national media outlets. She has testified before Congress on issues including small business capital access and cannabis legalization. She engages regularly with lawmakers and regulators at all levels of government. Prior to her work in cannabis, she was a business owner, strategist, and advocate for specialty consumer packaged goods and consumer health products including dietary supplements and sports nutrition products. 

Prior to joining Ice Miller, Amber was president and chief strategic officer for a public affairs firm that served to provide solutions in the areas of legislative and regulatory policy development, as well as government and regulatory affairs. She has also served as policy counsel and a consultant for several organizations in Washington, D.C.

Patrick Goggin Related Seminars and Products

Hoban Law Group

Earning an Environmental Law Certificate from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, Mr. Goggin was admitted to the California Bar in 1996. Based in San Francisco, he served as co-counsel in the seminal HIA v. DEA cases in the early 2000s. Later, Mr. Goggin led the industry effort with Senator Mark Leno in 2013 to finally pass California’s Industrial Hemp Farming Act after three vetoes.

Mr. Goggin began working on medical cannabis regulation in San Francisco in 2005 when the City commenced its regulation of dispensaries. Since then, he has represented clients throughout Northern California on compliance issues and permitting of all facets of medical cannabis activity. He served on San Francisco’s Medical Cannabis Task Force from 2010-11.

Presently, Mr. Goggin sits on Vote Hemp’s board and is working to implement hemp research in California. He recently joined Hoban Law Group full-time and continues to advise clients on all forms of cannabis compliance. With a long history of litigating, Mr. Goggin is a trained mediator and has a respected reputation as a dispute resolution specialist.

Garrett Graff Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Partner Gould & Ratner LLP

Garrett Graff is driven to provide his clients, who are often in regulated industries, with practical, real-world solutions that reflect their business objectives, internal and external considerations, and an assessment of associated risks, giving them the ability to navigate complex problems with relative ease.

In his practice, Garrett advises a wide range of clients, from start-ups to established private middle-market companies to family offices to publicly traded companies, on a wide variety of corporate matters, with an emphasis in regulated industries. His counsel includes corporate formation and structuring, equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, raising capital, securities, real estate and other complex commercial contracting issues, along with expertise in navigating complex regulatory environments on a federal, state and local basis. 

Garrett formerly served as the managing partner of a boutique full-service law firm prior to joining Gould & Ratner, and given such executive experience and legal expertise, Garrett often serves as outside general counsel to many clients, further advising on matters relating to corporate governance, fiduciary duties, employment law and other general corporate matters, affording Garrett the ability to advise clients in an integrated, strategic fashion across their business. Further, Garrett is experienced in advising clients on the protection of intellectual property, litigation, policy and international issues.

His clients cross a variety of industries, ranging from real estate companies, consumer packaged goods, operators in regulated spaces such as cannabis (marijuana and hemp), liquor, food and beverage, natural products and psychedelics, manufacturing, technology, and investment companies. 

From a regulatory perspective, Garrett counsels clients in navigating the many layers of international, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to their industries, FDA and FTC compliance related to for food and beverage, supplements and other natural products, Proposition 65 compliance, as well as import and export issues, along with other regulatory considerations.

For clients in regulated industries, Garrett often represents clients from the outset in navigating complex regulatory environments, beginning with the application process in securing appropriate licensure, in both competitive and non-competitive jurisdictions; in ongoing regulatory compliance; and in defending administrative actions concerning alleged non-compliance. Further, he frequently works with federal, state, and local authorities on policy and enforcement matters. Notably, Garrett represented hemp industry stakeholders against the DEA in confirming the Farm Bill’s hemp provisions pre-empt DEA authority and the CSA. He also regularly works with stakeholders in drafting model legislative and regulatory policy.

Given his expertise, Garrett was appointed by the Colorado Governor’s Office and two state regulatory agencies to serve for nine months on a statewide task force developing a first-of-its-kind regulatory framework concerning intoxicating cannabinoids and the interplay between the marijuana and hemp industries. Further, Garrett has testified in judicial proceedings related to regulatory matters and frequently speaks in many forums, including conferences, symposiums, and related events regarding various issues, including cannabis and natural products.