Brian Blumenfeld, Esq.

Over his dozen plus years practicing law, Brian has spent the past eight years guiding municipalities, licensees, investors and landlords in the cannabis industry. He began his cannabis career as an in-house attorney for a vertically integrated cannabis operation that grows, extracts, infuses, wholesales and retails both recreational and medical cannabis.

From these years of in-house and hands-on experience with cannabis law and operations, Brian took his legal and cannabis services to the consulting world where he helped develop one of the nation's first cannabis-specific liability policies for a nationwide insurance carrier. Brian then began consulting on cannabis licensing applications in competitive licensing jurisdictions throughout the country, counseling clients on legislative, regulatory and public policy matters, and managing project strategy and personnel.

Building off his general counsel and consulting experience, Brian joined RZA Legal in 2020 where he represents municipalities in drafting cannabis laws, policies and regulations, and cannabis companies for all of their legal needs, including entity structuring and funding, contract negotiations, real estate acquisitions and commercial leasing, intellectual property licensing, state and local government representation, regulatory compliance, employment matters, and more.

In addition to practicing cannabis business law, Brian has been very active in the academic world. He has published legal scholarship on cannabis law and policy with the University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law and with Pepperdine Law Review. Brian has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Wyoming where he has taught law and constitutional government. Brian has also written for the Cannabis Industry Journal covering cannabis reform legislation in Congress. Prior to entering the cannabis law world in Colorado, Brian worked in New York City in private practice and for a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Brian and his wife live in Grand Lake, Colorado, where Brian has been a volunteer first responder with Grand County Mountain Rescue and Rocky Mountain National Park Rescue since 2015. When he is not at his desk, you can find Brian backcountry skiing in the northern Colorado mountains, playing old time rock 'n' roll in a local band, or visiting his family back in the Garden State.

Brian is a licensed attorney in Colorado, New Jersey and New York.