The latest listing of the Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers has been released by the Cannabis Law Report and Cannabis Law Journal.
The 2022 list is the second edition issued by a research team led by Sean Hocking, editor of The Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers. The list includes three Zuber Lawler attorneys—-Tom Zuber, founder and managing partner, Janet Jackim, partner and co-chair of the Cannabis Practice Group of Zuber Lawler, and Lauren Davis, who has an of counsel relationship with Zuber Lawler.
Full disclosure: Zuber Lawler is a founding partner of Global Cannabis Times and GCTMag.com.
The list is not a ranking but does aim to share “which lawyers are the best first port of call for a particular state, jurisdiction or country and inform [readers] of their specialist knowledge concerning cannabis law and regulations,” Hocking told Global Cannabis Times.
The list names cannabis-focused attorneys in 24 countries, including 133 lawyers in the United States, 20 in Canada and 47 in other countries around the world.
“Unsurprisingly, most legal cannabis professionals are based in North America with a pattern of specific cities developing over the last 18 months as centers of excellence as the sector matures,” Hocking said.
“We would name Toronto, Vancouver, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York as cities building a wealth of cannabis legal practices with Washington D.C., Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Miami and Las Vegas following close behind.”
Hocking said legalization in more U.S. states has resulted in a massive increase in the number of lawyers with cannabis practices since he began researching the field. He said the number of lawyers working in the cannabis sector in the U.S. now surpassed 5,000.
“The major cannabis legal centers on publication of the first edition were Denver, Seattle and Portland. The spread of state legalization has meant that both Los Angeles and San Francisco have become legal centers for the industry. Denver is still a hub but the influential Colorado firms have realized that if they don’t have outposts in California and New York, they’ll be losing marketshare,” Hocking said.
The list names lawyers in 38 states in the U.S., plus Washington D.C.
Here’s a breakdown of the countries represented in the Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers List, by number of lawyers per country:
133 Listings: United States
20 Listings: Canada
10 Listings: United Kingdom
5 Listings: Germany
3 Listings: Colombia, Switzerland
2 Listings: Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Thailand
1 Listing: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Greece, Italy, Lesotho, Malta, Poland, Uruguay
And here’s the breakdown of U.S. states and districts represented in the Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers List, by number of lawyers per state or district:
13 Listings: California
12 Listings: New York
11 Listings: Colorado
9 Listings: New Jersey, Washington D.C.
6 Listings: Oregon
5 Listings: Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington
4 Listings: Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Texas
3 Listings: Arizona, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania
2 Listings: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee
1 Listing: Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
You can search the interactive map of the Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers List here.