Following Surge in Private Funding, California Cannabis Company Hires First General Counsel
Gabriel García is tasked with overseeing Natura Life + Science's legal department and will be responsible for its growth in the future.
September 19, 2019 at 04:42 PM
2 minute read
Gabriel Garcia, general counsel Natura Life + Science. Photo: Nicolette Lovell
Sacramento, California-based cannabis company Natura Life + Science announced Wednesday the hiring of Gabriel García as its first general counsel.
García, who is based in Sacramento, is tasked with overseeing the company's legal department and will be responsible for its growth in the future. On Thursday, he said he worked in-house at Abbott Laboratories from 2012 to 2015 and got a taste of what it was like working in-house.
"I always wanted to work at a startup but not necessarily a tech startup," García told Corporate Counsel.
For the past three years, García said he has been working in his own private practice, Garcia Law Corp. PC, almost exclusively focusing on cannabis-related issues.
"Going in-house was a natural extension," he said.
As outside counsel, García said he had a lot of corporate structuring matters and is looking forward to being more involved with the day-to-day business decisions.
"Now I interact with the business team every day and am able to prioritize one client's goals. It's easier to do that in a broader context in-house," García said.
García joins Natura as it is making plans to build a 265,000-square-foot facility. In May the company announced it has secured $91 million in private financing for the facility that will be able to cultivate, manufacture and extract cannabis products. The company is also planning to start manufacturing, distributing and delivering cannabis products in the third quarter of 2019 and expects to begin cultivation in 2020.
"Gabriel's unique legal background and strategic perspective will unlock Natura's growth, while also giving our customers access to highly valuable legal guidance," Natura's CEO Ori Bytton said in the press release.
García said he expects to begin hiring additional lawyers for the legal department in the near future. He said he will likely look for lawyers with a background in California employment law and intellectual property.
"Intellectual property is a big component of any cannabis company's portfolio," García said.
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