INTEGRATED LEGAL SERVICES FOR CALIFORNIA'S CANNABIS AND HEMP INDUSTRIES
Eight Practice Areas. One Lawyer Who Actually Knows the Industries.
California’s cannabis and hemp industries operate under a legal framework that does not resemble any other regulated industry in the country. State-licensed but federally prohibited. Locally controlled but state-administered. Capital-intensive but bank-restricted. Brand-driven but trademark-limited. The result is that legal questions in this industry rarely fit cleanly inside one practice area — a corporate question routinely turns into a regulatory question, a real estate matter often becomes an IP issue, and a financing transaction almost always implicates licensing disclosure obligations.
The Law Office of Shay Aaron Gilmore is structured to handle that integration under one roof. The eight practice areas below describe how the firm works with cannabis and hemp operators, investors, founders, and license-holders across the State of California. They are not separate departments — they are a single, coordinated practice. Most engagements draw on more than one.
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Eight Services. One Lawyer.
Corporate Law
Entity formation, governance, M&A, and ownership structuring for license-holders.
Commercial Contracts
Supply, distribution, licensing, and vendor agreements built to be enforceable.
Real Estate & Land Use
Site selection, leases, zoning, CEQA, and conditional use permits.
Regulatory Compliance
DCC, CDFA, CDPH, and local licensing — ongoing compliance counsel.
Intellectual Property
Trademarks, trade secrets, patents, and brand protection inside federal limits.
Venture Capital Counsel
Convertible notes, priced rounds, and investor representation in cannabis financings
Employment & Labor Law
Compliance, internal investigations, handbooks, and labor relations for cannabis and hemp employers.
Administrative Law
DCC enforcement defense, license proceedings, and agency rulemaking.
Why Operators and Investors Choose This Firm
Industry-first practice. This is not a general business firm with a cannabis client list. Every engagement at the Law Office of Shay Aaron Gilmore involves cannabis or hemp. That focus means the firm already knows the regulatory environment, the recurring deal structures, the standard contract risks, the agency personalities, and the local ordinances of every major California cannabis jurisdiction — before the first call.
Integrated counsel. Most cannabis legal problems span multiple practice areas. A licensing question becomes a corporate question becomes a real estate question. The firm handles all eight services described above directly, which means clients are not forced to coordinate between three outside firms or absorb the cost of duplicate intake, duplicate conflict checks, and duplicate ramp-up.
Operator-grade documentation. Contracts, governance documents, and compliance programs are drafted to function under stress — under regulatory scrutiny, under investor disputes, and under market shifts that California’s cannabis industry produces on a regular basis. The goal of every document the firm produces is durability.
What Our Clients Say
Testimonials or endorsements do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case.
Frequently Asked Questions
These answers were prepared by Shay Aaron Gilmore, a California-licensed attorney recognized as one of the Top 20 Cannabis Lawyers in California by The Daily Journal. These answers are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.
Cannabis and Hemp Law Insights
The View from Newsom’s Desk: The Cannabis Bills of 2026
As the 2026 California legislative session closes, Governor Newsom has until September 30 to act on the year’s cannabis bills. One is already law: AB 2249 rewrites MAUCRSA’s “attractive to children” packaging standard. Seven wait on his desk — packaging labels (AB 2532), vape branding (AB 2667), testing labs (AB 1965), CBN classification (AB 2250), enforcement data-sharing (AB 2001), nitrous-linked license consequences (SB 936), and local administrative fines (SB 1272, drawing the strongest live veto signal). Four are dead for the year. A working scorecard from California cannabis attorney Shay Aaron Gilmore.
What SB 1064 and AB 179 Predict About DCC’s Combined Activities and Ownership Rulemaking
The California Department of Cannabis Control’s Summer 2026 rulemaking, “Combined Activities License and Ownership Updates,” will implement two 2024 statutes. SB 1064 (Ch. 991) authorizes combined cannabis activities at one premises under Business and Professions Code § 26001(m) and directs DCC to build a combined-activities licensing process under § 26070. AB 179 (Ch. 997) narrows Live Scan fingerprint requirements under § 26051.5(a)(1) so that only owners defined in § 26001(aq)(1)–(3) — the 20% aggregate holder, CEO or equivalent, and nonprofit board members — must submit fingerprints. The package will primarily amend 4 CCR § 15002 and § 15003 among 15 affected regulations. This post predicts what DCC’s proposed regulations will and will not include, applies the California APA purpose-and-scope constraints under Government Code §§ 11342.1 and 11342.2, and identifies the four drafting moves operators should prepare for now.
AB 1684 Cannabis Fines: What California Landlords and Tenants Need to Know
Since January 1, 2024, California cities can fine landlords and tenants $10,000 a day for unlicensed cannabis activity. Here’s what AB 1684 actually requires.