Now filling that gap is the East Bay-centric National Cannabis Bar Association, which formally launches today at CanBAR.org.
NCBA founding president and executive director Shabnam Malek said the all-female-led group grew organically out of national networking among specialized attorneys, and aims to complement NORML’s legal directory, and the cannabis-specialty groups forming inside state bars across the country.
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The NCBA will serve the marijuana industry through a national network of specialized canna-counselors. A NCBA web directory is pending, as well as a Better Business Bureau-type certification for experienced cannabis lawyers, Malek told me.
The NCBA will also be instructing fellow lawyers, and has already begun holding workshops on intellectual property law for the cannabis space. Continuing legal education credits for its seminars is also in the works.
“As more and more states decriminalize or legalize cannabis – and set up their own regulatory structures – the legal conditions cannabis industry clients and their attorneys face are likely to get even more complex before they get simpler,” stated Malek.
Membership in the NCBA is open to practicing attorneys, paralegals, law students, and retired attorneys and will host an event for new members at the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Cannabis Business Summit and Expo in Denver on June 30, 2015.
The founding Board members of the NCBA include:
Shabnam Malek – president and executive director, NCBA
partner, Brand & Branch LLP, California
Lara Leslie DeCaro – secretary, NCBA
partner, Leland, Parchini, Steinberg, Matzger & Melnick, LLP, California
Amanda Conley – treasurer, NCBA
partner, Brand & Branch LLP, California
Leland Berger
solo practitioner, Oregon
Josh Kappel
partner, Vicente Sederberg LLC,Colorado
David Kochman
solo practitioner, New York
Robert Raich
solo practitioner, California
Jonathan Robbins
partner, Akerman, LLP, Florida
Mary Shapiro
Mary L. Shapiro Law, PC, California
Mitzi Vaughn
managing attorney, Greenbridge, Washington
