Marijuana

Public Affairs Firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP Creates Cannabis Practice for Legalized Weed

http://www.marijuanadrugfacts.com/marijuana/public-affairs-firm-davidoff-hutcher-citron-llp-creates-cannabis-practice-for-legalized-weed

Here’s the press release

Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP (DHC), a top New York-based commercial law and government relations firm, has announced the formation of a Cannabis Practice Group, which will help clients navigate the regulations around newly legalized adult recreational marijuana in New York State.

The group builds upon DHC’s decades of experience representing clients in highly regulated and similar industries, such as the state’s thousands of wine, liquor and packaged goods merchants. DHC long worked with these companies to successfully guide them through regulatory matters, including the maze of rules and regulations that came to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and helping to achieve the designation of essential business for liquor stores.

The Firm also maintains one of the New York’s most significant hospitality industry practices, dealing with licensing and regulatory compliance issues on behalf of bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, resorts and country clubs, which further meshes with the needs of companies engaged in the business of state regulated cannabis.

“The Office of Cannabis Management will be implementing laws and regulations governing the growing and evolving cannabis industry in New York. They will be similar to those that govern entities regulated by the State Liquor Authority, and both will exist under a tiered system,” said Steve Malito, Chair of the Cannabis Practice Group.

“Davidoff Hutcher & Citron is uniquely qualified to advise our clients in the cannabis space as they navigate the complexities of these regulations.”

Malito, a Partner at DHC and current Chair of the firm’s New York State Government Relations Group, has represented clients before the Governor’s Office, administrative agencies, the Senate and the Assembly in Albany for more than 20 years.

Under his leadership, the group will work with cannabis retailers, growers, distributors, processors and investors to guide them through the new regulations associated with the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) in ways that safeguard both public safety and business enterprise, as well as compliance with federal statutes.

DHC’s Cannabis Practice Group consists of government relations professionals and attorneys with experience in various impacted areas of law, including regulatory, litigation and real estate law.

The team will assist clients with licenses to grow, process or dispense adult-use cannabis and medical cannabis; assessment of business and individual risks under federal and state cannabis-related laws; guidance through the commercial leasing process; community engagement and education; lobbying services and more.

“We have dynamic clients already moving ahead in this space, specifically because DHC works at the forefront of changing government regulations and legal issues facing our clients, and cannabis is no exception,” said Jeffrey Citron, Managing Partner. “Our team’s advocacy experience for parallel hospitality, retail and other highly business sectors, allows our clients to hit the ground running.”