Law Times

Law Times • July 13, 2015 Page 15 www.lawtimesnews.com Legal work expands as new rules introduced dispensaries were all coming to me because they had been bust- ed by the police," says Tousaw. "Now I can offer them a wider range of services to as- sist them with more day-to-day issues arising from their busi- ness." Hugo Alves, a corporate and commercial partner at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto, spotted an opportunity when the new regulations arrived in 2013. "When the old regime was put in place, there was some legal work around but not the type a large law firm would do because they were trying to reg- ulate the patients," he says. "When the new ones came out, I thought this will create an industry because they were shifting to regulate the dispen- saries and producers. Those types of companies are going to require capital. They'll need picks and shovels in the ground and a number of other business- es around them." Alves says he saw the same thing happen before in work- ing with clients operating in new markets effectively created by government regulation. A similar scenario emerged, for example, after the signing of the Kyoto protocol when the inter- national climate change treaty created an emissions trading market and again closer to home when Ontario's Green Energy Act spurred the development of a renewable energy market in the province. Working with associate Michael Lickver, Alves began building a plan to involve the firm in the f ledgling industry. In fact, he represented one of the first applicants for a production licence from Health Canada un- der the new regime. "We mapped out how we thought the industry would look. We view it as a nucleus comprised of the producers, the distributors, and the consum- ers. Out from there, you have a lot of different service providers: medical clinics, technology pro- viders, security consultants, and so on. We've made a conscious effort to have clients in every one of those sectors because each one views the industry through a different lens," says Alves. According to Alves, his firm has been very supportive of the venture. "It's a law firm that is hugely entrepreneurial, so they like to see partners and associates who want to do something cre- ative and build a new line of business," he says. Alves says the groundwork he and Lickver have already put in place will also leave them in a strong position in the event the government ever legalizes recreational use of cannabis, a change Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau has been prom- ising to make. "I think if the regulations are expanded to allow for con- sumption by adults other than those with a medical need, the platform for distribution and production will likely remain the same," says Alves. "The underlying policy ob- jectives of protecting public health and safety and avoiding diversion into the criminal mar- ket, those things won't change," says Alves. It's not just in advisory roles that lawyers have sensed a busi- ness opportunity in the mari- juana sector. Maxim Zavet has taken a sabbatical from his practice at Toronto firm Levy Zavet PC to focus on his role as chief ex- ecutive officer of KindCann, a medical marijuana company he cofounded that's in the final stages of licensing with Heath Canada. "The licensing process has been a big challenge," says Zavet. "There's no manual on how to put an application together and it's a very slow process. I think there are two or three for- mer lawyers involved in compa- nies. It's a field lawyers sink their teeth into because the regula- tory compliance takes some knowledge to get through." LT W W W . L E X P E R T . C A / R I S I N G - S T A R S Untitled-2 1 2015-07-09 8:06 AM Continued from page 14 'When the old regime was put in place, there was some legal work around but not the type a large law firm would do because they were trying to regulate the patients,' says Hugo Alves. correcTion An article about ALT Di- vorce in the June 22 is- sue of Law Times stated that a psychiatrist con- ducts the parenting por- tion of mediation ser- vices there. In fact, a me- diator who has a back- ground in mental health carries out that portion of the mediation. Contact $BSTXFMM.FEJB4BMFT@thomsonreuters.com for details. RECRUITING? POST YOUR POSITION ON GREAT RATES. GREAT REACH. GREAT RESULTS. Untitled-6 1 14-06-17 2:09 PM FOCUS

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