Nicole Stanton, general counsel with Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.

A Tempe, Arizona-based cannabis company announced Thursday that an assistant general counsel at a law firm will be its next general counsel.

Nicole Stanton has been named the general counsel of Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. As general counsel, Stanton will lead a team of eight in-house attorneys and oversee and manage regulatory legal growth, compliance and licensing deals. She is set to begin her new job June 24.

Stanton is the company's second general counsel. Sean Berberian was the company's first general counsel. According to a spokesman for the company, Berberian left the company in May to return to private practice.

Stanton has spent nearly her entire career working at Quarles & Brady, according to her LinkedIn profile. She became an associate after graduating from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2000 and previously served as a managing partner. She currently serves as assistant general counsel at the firm.

Stanton said in an interview Thursday that she is excited to begin working at Harvest and is appreciative of her time at Quarles & Brady. She said she has received nothing but support from the firm.

"I've had the opportunity to work with terrific clients," Stanton said.

She explained her decision to go in-house was because she wanted to have a larger leadership role. At Quarles & Brady, leadership roles are rotated and she was no longer a managing partner.

"I did not go looking to work at a cannabis company," Stanton explained. "I'm attracted to Harvest because they are a vibrant, growing company."

She explained she thinks one of the challenges will be keeping pace with how quickly the company is growing, which she said is inherent to the cannabis industry.

"I think [one of the major challenges] will be balancing the business with the speed with which they are operating," Stanton said.

Right now, Stanton will lead a team of seven attorneys and hire more as the company needs. She said she does not plan on immediately hiring more in-house attorneys when she starts.

The company also announced Thursday that Allyson Wilcox had been hired as assistant general counsel. Wilcox began working at Harvest in April, according to her LinkedIn profile.

CEO Steve White said in the press release that he is happy to have Stanton and Wilcox working with the company.

"As Harvest continues our growth, we need the highest level of expertise in understanding regulatory, compliance, management and corporate ethics," he said. "We are thrilled to bring on Nicole and Allyson to guide us in setting the best standard of operations to create safe and transparent experiences nationally."

Harvest is a vertically integrated cannabis company with 210 facilities and 1,580 employees across 17 states.