James Eric Kirkland

James Eric Kirkland is a California attorney whose practice includes cannabis and marijuana law, based in Los Angeles. With 34 years since admission, Kirkland is a graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law. Alongside cannabis matters, Kirkland handles trademark work, where cannabis brands must build protection through state and common-law routes, company structuring, shareholder arrangements and sale or transfer of licensed businesses and securities work, including private placements for cannabis operators.

Because California has a regulated adult-use market as well as a medical program, cannabis practice there covers license applications and transfers, compliance audits and municipal approvals, as well as the charges that continue to attach to unlicensed sale and cultivation. Oversight sits with the Department of Cannabis Control. It is the largest regulated market in the country, where state licenses sit on top of a separate local approval in every city and county.