Cannabis Business Litigation: Five Tips for Working with a Lawyer

A couple of years ago, I wrote on this blog that we are never not litigating cannabis disputes. As a direct result, we have written dozens of articles on the subject. This year and next, as the adult use market expands into key states like California, the sheer number of cannabis businesses coming online will result in a further expansion of contested matters. We wish that were not the case, but we have been staffing up our Oregon, Washington and California office with litigators, partly in response to growing demand for cannabis dispute resolution services.

Some cannabis business disputes are short and sweet; others protracted and difficult. Common sense would dictate, and we have always found, that the more efficient and disciplined a litigant is, the better the result, from both a cost and results perspective. The most efficient litigants are those who work closely with counsel to take responsibility for their case, set a goal at the outset, and keep that goal in mind throughout the process.

Here are five tips for working with an attorney to resolve a cannabis business dispute.

Hire the right attorney. As much as we hate to say it, it is easy to hire poorly in the context of cannabis disputes, for a couple of reasons. First, many lawyers who work in this industry come from a criminal law background and rode the wave into legalization. Much like a business attorney would struggle in drug court, attorneys who lack business law experience are ill equipped to handle corporate cannabis beefs. Second, many good business litigators are still unwilling to service the industry, given the status of federal law. And third, many business litigation firms that do wish to work with the industry are new to cannabis law and its steep learning curve. Most cannabis disputes have significant underpinnings of state and local administrative law and policy. These rules run into the several hundreds of pages, are constantly evolving, and generally are supplemented by unwritten agency policies. Even the brightest non-industry lawyers incur significant time and client expense just getting up to speed.

Be Organized. The most critical client-side component to any litigation is organization. When you hire a lawyer, assemble any and all relevant materials in one place (contracts, emails, voicemails, texts, etc.), and transmit these materials in aggregate to the attorney. Supplement them, if you can, by a chronology and/or written summary of your case. This will save the attorney significant time and energy in assembling the facts of your dispute, and will result in less back-and-forth from the attorney attempting to elicit information he or she may need for your case.

Put all of your cards on the table. Don’t shield any information from your attorney that you find embarrassing, or that you think is less compelling than other facts, or that you feel may damage your case. You should feel incentivized to pass along anything relevant, or even possibly relevant, for four primary reasons: (1) everything you pass along will be protected by the attorney-client privilege; (2) anything damaging will almost certainly come out at depositions or elsewhere in the discovery process, anyway, and is best dealt with beforehand; (3) when an attorney lines up the facts of your case with the legal elements of potential claims, minor facts, which you may not find compelling, tend to come out of the woodwork and play a significant role; and (4) trust us, we have seen worse.

Step back. Throughout the arc of any litigation, there will be a volley of correspondence, filings and other developments between the parties – shots across the bow. When a development occurs, you may feel a very strong urge to immediately pick up the phone and offer an extended hot take on the latest item. Most of the time, these conversations are less productive than if both litigant and attorney allow the new information to percolate in advance of a structured conversation. The one exception here is any development that truly requires immediate action, and those developments are rarer than many people think. We realize that stepping back is easier said than done, but taking a measured approach throughout the arc of a contest preserves energy and controls costs. Think of litigation as a marathon, not a sprint.

Be Realistic. As attorneys, we like to think we excel at getting efficient, advantageous results for our clients. And we generally do, within the realm of the possible. For example, we may be able to recover your costs or attorney fees in litigation, but only if you have a contractual or statutory basis for doing so. Similarly, we may be able to resolve a dispute with a strong letter or a well-written complaint, but only if the other side is acting rationally. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your position will lead to a realistic appreciation of the gamut of possible outcomes. At that point, you and your lawyer can maximize every tool at your disposal to pursue, and attain, the best possible result.

 

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