Arun Kurichety
Arun is a seasoned leader, corporate executive, and attorney with an entrepreneurial mindset. He possesses extensive experience in corporate transactional and restructuring areas, with a specialization in the cannabis and CBD industries. As a cannabis industry “veteran,” he has operated cannabis businesses, advised numerous cannabis companies from start-ups to publicly traded companies, and launched several brands in the California market. He is highly regarded for his capital markets knowledge, having raised over $100+M for various cannabis companies, while regularly advising on all aspects of the industry, including corporate governance, cannabis investing, compliance, operations, and go to market strategies.
As the former General Counsel and Executive Vice President of KushCo Holdings, Arun oversaw and managed the legal, compliance, corporate governance, and business affairs functions. He served as a trusted advisor on the executive team and executed several industry-first transactions, including the company’s $50 million asset-based credit facility. His focus on compliance resulted in implementing a “best-in-class” compliance program.
With more than thirteen years of corporate transactional experience with two top-tier international law firms, Arun guided and advised companies in various growth stages, from start-ups to businesses seeking to restructure or exit. He led, or participated in, more than fifteen complex large U.S. and foreign debt restructurings totaling $12+ billion in funded debt. He implemented novel and successful strategies on behalf of companies and sophisticated creditors in and out of court during the “great recession” of 2008-2011.
Arun has been intimately involved in the creation of the legal, regulated cannabis market in California and throughout the country. He continues to offer his time and expertise to organizations that push legalization forward for a safe and responsible cannabis industry. He was an invited member of the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Policy Council, which shapes nationwide cannabis policy through education and lobbying. He is a regular speaker on cannabis industry panels and has been profiled by several publications for his insights on the industry. He is also the first cannabis attorney to be selected as a finalist for the General Counsel Award by the Orange County Business Journal.
Arun earned his Bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in 2001 from Harvard University in Government. In 2006, he received his Juris Doctor (cum laude) from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is based in Laguna Beach, California and is admitted to practice law in California and Illinois.
Vijay Rajagopal
Vijay is a business-oriented corporate, commercial and cannabis regulatory attorney whose counsel is informed by extensive in-house cannabis industry experience and a background in bankruptcy and federal and state litigation. He is based in Chicago and licensed to practice law in California and Illinois.
Vijay’s inside involvement in multiple cannabis business verticals, coupled with his expansive and varied commercial law background, has given him an intimate understanding of the impact of cannabis and hemp laws and regulations on the business model, operating capabilities and bottom lines of dispensary, cultivation, manufacturing, and ancillary cannabis businesses, including packaging and CBD/hemp. His experience includes negotiating and drafting a broad range of commercial contracts, business formation and governance, mergers and acquisitions, private placements, secured lending, and more.
Previously, Vijay served as in-house Senior Compliance Counsel for a vertically integrated multi-state cannabis operator. He oversaw compliance and licensure for the company’s operations across seven states, including dispensary, cultivation and manufacturing facilities. Vijay was also a consultant to a Canadian medical marijuana start-up, providing advice on Canadian licensure, the company’s business plans, and international cannabis import and export laws. As a consultant to one of the country’s largest providers of ancillary products and services for the cannabis industry, he drafted numerous commercial agreements and providing strategic guidance regarding UCC Articles 2 and 9 and various compliance matters, including hemp/CBD law and regulations.
Prior to his work in the cannabis industry, Vijay practiced law at boutique firms in Chicago, where he advised established and startup business clients on a wide range of business and corporate matters. His legal specialties include bankruptcy and commercial litigation and transactions.
Vijay earned his J.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington – Maurer School of Law and B.A. in Political Science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. During law school, Vijay served as Managing Editor of the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, participated in moot court and venture capital investment competitions, and studied international law abroad in Barcelona.
Robby S. Pinnamaneni
Of Counsel
Robby S. Pinnamaneni is an attorney, investor, and operator with a wealth of cannabis industry experience focused on operations and manufacturing development. Robby has developed vertically-integrated production and manufacturing operations in California, Oklahoma, and Michigan with an aggregate value in excess of $150 million. Having spent more than ten years as a corporate, real estate and restructuring attorney at top‐tier law firms, including Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis, Robby has a keen focus on structuring investment opportunities that maximize return on investment while mitigating downside risk and maximizing exit opportunities. Prior to launching his legal career, Robby gained valuable investment banking and management consulting experiences. Robby graduated with a J.D. from Vanderbilt University, where he also earned a certification in Law & Business. He earned his M.S. in Financial Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was President of his class, and his B.A. in Economics with Honors from the University of Chicago.
NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS
- Negotiated and structured $19 million sale of 1.8-acre retail and distribution campus in Los Angeles to a Canadian public company.
- Participated in the restructuring and sale of a public distribution/B2C company with 109 employees and $37 million in yearly revenue.
- Facilitated, negotiated and structured divestiture of $6 million distressed manufacturing campus in Adelanto, California.
- Member of founding team of manufacturing and retail company, which sold in December 2020 to a public company.
EXPERIENCE BY THE NUMBERS
- Developed and operated over $150 million in operations and assets across 3 states.
- Raised and deployed over $50 million in equity.
- Scaled vertically-integrated manufacturing operation to $35 million yearly run rate.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Raised over $100,000 for Make-A-Wish
Alex Freedman
Of Counsel
Alex is a recognized expert in cannabis law after having served for two years as General Counsel to the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation and the Los Angeles Cannabis Regulation Commission. In that role, Alex was the City of Los Angeles’ principal legal advisor on all cannabis-related regulatory matters, including drafting the city’s cannabis licensing ordinances and regulations and guiding DCR as it launched the largest municipal commercial cannabis regulatory and licensing program in the world. Alex embraced the opportunity to play a major role in the historic cannabis legalization movement in Los Angeles and came to be recognized as one of the leading authorities on cannabis policy in California.
Now advising cannabis companies in the private sector, Alex relies on the unparalleled experience he gained as one of the key regulators of the most important cannabis market in the world to help clients navigate the ever-changing cannabis regulatory landscape in Los Angeles and beyond. In particular, Alex provides clients the unique and nuanced advice only a former regulator can offer on the risks and opportunities in increasingly complex and fragmented licensed cannabis markets.
Alex is the co-founder of the cannabis section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Alex earned his J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law and B.A. from UC Davis with High Honors, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
Taking The Guesswork Out Of Cannabis Law.