Michael McQueeny

Representative Experience

• Counsel for the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association, the association of New Jersey’s licensed alternative treatment centers.
• Represented The Valens Company, Inc., a leading manufacturer of cannabis products, in gaining approval for an application to list its common shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
• Assisted in advising several successful entities in their applications in New Jersey’s competitive 2019 Request for Applications.*
• Represented The Valens Company Inc. in the acquisition of Green Roads worth up to $60M.
• Represented Trulieve Cannabis Corporation in connection with its successful application to operate a Class 1 Production License (one of only two Class 1 Production Licenses (100k sq. ft.) available state-wide) to cultivate and manufacture low-THC cannabis oil products in Georgia. 
• Assisted in drafting portions of a client’s winning application in New Jersey’s competitive 2018 Request for Applications, wherein only six (6) winners were selected from a pool of one-hundred forty-six (146) total applications. * 
• Assisted client in connection with their successful application to obtain multiple satellite dispensaries, thereby tripling the company’s state-wide retail footprint.
• Advised client in connection with its successful acquisition of a vertically integrated medical cannabis license. * 
• Successfully assisted various clients in connection with several different regulatory issues, including, but not limited to, license applications, license renewals, license modifications, license expansions, and in responding to regulatory inquiries. 
• Serve as legislative counsel to cannabis companies in understanding and responding to legislative proposals for medical implementation, medical expansion, and/or adult-use implementation, including, but not limited to, drafting white papers for considerations on the impact of legislation on other policy related goals.
• Assist in providing 50-state guidance to hemp cannabinoid companies navigating the patchwork of ever-increasing state-based regulatory rules and requirements, including, but not limited to, advising on licensing/registration, permissible/prohibited products, and labeling requirements.
• Assisted clients in engaging with local municipalities in jurisdictions that require local approval and consent, including, but not limited to, successfully defeating ordinances introduced and designed to prohibit cannabis establishments within their borders or in specified areas.
• Counsel clients on various regulatory issues associated with entering into new markets, whether in connection with application strategy, strategic partnerships, lending, and/or management services agreements with existing state-based operators. 

  * Indicates work performed prior to joining Foley Hoag.

Professional Experience

• Adjunct professor, Cannabis Law, New York Law School
• Law Clerk to the Honorable Patricia K. Costello, A.J.S.C., Assignment Judge for the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex Vicinage