BOCA RATON – A national law firm based out of Denver, Colorado that specializes in cannabis and hemp business law recently announced the addition of a Florida attorney to its group.
Boca Raton-area criminal justice attorney David C. Kotler Esq. is the latest addition to the Hoban & Feola legal team of attorneys with expertise in the complex framework of the commercial marijuana business.
"I am of counsel for the state of Florida," Kotler told the Florida Record when asked about his new role with Hoban & Feola.
He added that joining the legal group is, for him, "an opportunity to also leverage the experience of folks who have a few more years' experience in this than I do. (It's a) a wealth of knowledge."
According to its website, Hoban & Feola is “Colorado’s original, experienced cannabis business law firm since 2008, providing expert advice to clients in the regulated, retail marijuana dispensary system and the industrial hemp industry."
Kotler, a shareholder and litigation attorney with the law firm of Cohen Kotler PA earned his law degree from Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
His legal resume began as an assistant state attorney with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office.
Kotler is admitted to practice in Florida, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Florida and the Supreme Court of the United States.
He is on the advisory board of the Cannabis Marketing Lab, a leading California marketing agency, is general counsel to the Florida Cannabis Industry Association, and is the current chair of the Florida Unlicensed Practice of Law Committee 15B.
Medical Marijuana Business Lawyers LLC, a practice area of Cohen Kotler PA, has since allowed Kotler to represent clients seeking a license under the Florida Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014.
The United States has not always been at war with the cannabis and hemp industry. In 1619, the Virginia Assembly passed legislation requiring every farmer to grow hemp and, more recently, the "Hemp for Victory" campaign was launched in 1940.
Cannabis and hemp re-legalization has continued to gain public attention since medical marijuana use was legalized in the California in 1996.
The debate over marijuana use "comes down to the legislature or (the) will of the people," Kotler told the Florida Record.
According to a press release forwarded to the Florida Record by Bloom Cannabis Group director Caroline Rustigan-Bruderer, Viridian Capital Advisors will be hosting Florida's first cannabis investment conference in Fort Lauderdale on June 8. The conference, titled Investing in the Emerging Cannabis Industry While Managing Risk, is sponsored by Hoban & Feola.
Although Hoban & Feola is not an advocacy group for recreational marijuana use, Americans who use the substance for recreational purposes may appreciate part of the national law firm's address: Suite 420.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, founded in 1970, states on its website that according to government surveys, about 25 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the last year and more than 14 million consume it daily, despite laws in most states prohibiting non-medicinal use. While today 24 states have passed some form of marijuana legalization, marijuana is still illegal under Florida and federal law.
Legalization of medical marijuana use will be on Florida's ballot for the second time in November.