With nineteen years of experience, Amy Margolis is a long time cannabis lawyer and counselor. In addition to licensing and regulatory work, she frequently advises both businesses and investors on deploying capital in the cannabis space, multi-jurisdtictional growth, public offerings and every other stage of business and corporate development.

Having touched the cannabis space for more than two decades, Ms. Margolis has spoken across the country and internationally on cannabis policy, infrastructure creation, implementation of medical and adult use legalization models, gender equity and investment strategies.

Ms. Margolis is also the founder of The Initiative, helping female founders in the cannabis space.

Find us at The Commune Located At:

19 NW 5th, 3rd Floor Portland, Or. 97209
503-539-4394

Contact

Amy Margolis has been a lawyer for nineteen years and has represented cannabis clients in all stages of growth and development. She has also represented hundreds of clients in criminal and dependency cases both as a public defender and as retained counsel. She is a believer in social equity as a guidepost and founded The Initiative with that in mind.

She is also directly involved with the state’s policy discussion around implementation of medical and recreational cannabis and she has been tapped to serve on a number of rulemaking committees, including the following:

The Portland Marijuana Task Force;
The Clackamas County Marijuana Task Force;
HB 3460 Rules Advisory Committee;
The Oregon Health Authority Medical Rules Advisory Committee; and
The OLCC Licensing, Enforcement, and Compliance Rules Advisory Committee.

She frequently testifies at the Oregon legislature and before local governments on both policy and practical issues surrounding cannabis, gender equity and sentencing reform..

Professional and Community Activities
American Bar Association, Member
Oregon Cannabis Political Action Committee, Executive Director
Oregon Cannabis Association, Executive Director

Admitted to Practice
Oregon State Courts
United States District Court, District of Oregon

Education
University of Oregon School of Law, Juris Doctor (2001)
University of Washington, Bachelor of Arts (1998)

Press

Interested in what we do and what we are passionate about? Here is a small sampling of articles where we are discussing all things cannabis. From raising money for state and federal candidates to producing historic cannabis events, this office is committed to making real change in cannabis policy.

Medical marijuana in Oregon: Hundreds of pot growers to meet in Portland on Friday | OregonLive, August 21, 2014
The Faces of Cannabis | Willamette Week, October 14, 2015
Oregon marijuana industry seeks to influence Congress on tax, banking problems | OregonLive, June 8, 2015
Oregon Town Hall: Pot In 2015 | OPB, December 12, 2014
15 People Who Made a Difference in 2015 | GoLocalPDX, December 23, 2015
Oregon Fair to Hand Out Cannabis Samples | MarijuanaStocks.com, July 18, 2016
Rules leave pot test labs with little oversight in Oregon | Komo News, April 19, 2014
50,000 Eligible To Have Marijuana Charges Removed From Their Record | Signal Bay, November 10, 2015
Portland Just Says No To Many Marijuana-Related Events | OPB, May 17, 2016
Portland’s Cannabis Festival, The Summer Fair, Will Include Free Samples | Cannabis Business Executive, July 15, 2016
Marijuana lobby hopes Clinton will smoke the peace pipe | Portland Press Herald, September 10, 2015

CONTACT

The Commune

19 NW 5th, 3rd Floor

Portland, Or. 97209

Please contact:

angele@intheinitiative.com

503-489-9461

Practice Areas

At Margolis Legal we believe in providing holistic services for your cannabis business.

While Oregon is an adult use and medical use state, it is still illegal under federal law. That means that the foundation of your business needs to be compliance. From your very first meeting we will walk you through the most up-to-date regulatory information so we can help you make the right decisions to keep you, and your business safe.

LICENSING

In Oregon, licensing happens under two regulatory authorities- the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. Having sat on rule-making committees under both of these agencies, we are uniquely qualified to walk you through all parts of licensing. Many of our clients have already received their OLCC licenses so we know what it takes to help your business get yours. We will also come out and help you pre-inspection to make sure that you feel comfortable and secure when OLCC or OHA come out to inspect or investigate you.

REGULATORY AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

After your receive your license you begin a long and potentially complicated relationship with OHA and OLCC. From ongoing inspections to issues surrounding renewals to potential violations, we can help you walk through the regulatory challenges. Working together we can develop strong standard operating procedures, train your employees on compliance and keep you safe during administrative hearings. Because many of these regulations are in constant flux, we can also keep you updated on any new changes and how to adapt your business to meet those changes.

CORPORATE WORK

We can help you with all aspects of your corporate work. From commercial contracts to shareholders agreements, from warrants to convertible notes, we have the experience you need to make the right partnership and entity choices. By bringing a strong traditional corporate law skill set to the cannabis industry you can feel confident that your business is built right with plenty of room to grow.

LITIGATION

Along with all of the successes, there will be problems. With more than 15 years of trial and courtroom experience we can help you through your business and commercial litigation.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Instead of trying to learn a little bit of everything but not being good at any one thing, we are experts in our practice areas. We also recognize, just like you do, the power of strategic partnerships. If we can not help you in the office we will connect you with one of our many legal, accounting, security, insurance partners.