Among their top concerns beyond real estate and capital is finding affordable and reliable legal help to guide them through the state’s complicated maze of forms and other requirements.
“The problem that you may run into is the legal side of it,” said Justin Crosgile, who received conditional approval this past summer for a recreational retail license from New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
Crosgile, whose Jamaican citizenship helped qualify him for social equity, provided MJBizDaily with an engagement letter from one law firm, outlying legal services for the conditional application only.
The firm’s flat fee: $100,000.
Instead, a friend introduced him to Chirali Patel, founder of the Blaze Law Firm, which steered Crosgile away from a bad equity deal proposed by an MSO, and ultimately, toward that conditional license.
“Prior to entering the cannabis industry I’d seen quotes for $5,000 for a business plan, but now some of my social equity clients get quoted $20,000 just for a 20-page streamlined business plan,” Patel told MJBizDaily via email.