Michael Brandis, chief legal officer of Eaze. Courtesy photo.

On Jan. 1, 2018, California will join the small group of U.S. states that permit the sale of recreational marijuana. Sales at present are restricted to medical marijuana, with most companies in the industry remaining small.

But as regulations change, the market will, too. The Recorder's Caroline Spiezio spoke with Michael Brandis, the chief legal officer and corporate secretary of medical marijuana delivery company Eaze, about in-house lawyers' role in a fast-growing industry. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The Recorder: What does your day look like at Eaze? How is your job different from the job of a CLO in a more traditional industry?

Michael Brandis: The most important part of my day-to-day is that the laws are actually evolving as we speak. In California, you have state laws and regulations and then each city has the opportunity to do their own. So, it's exciting. It's a brand new industry and Eaze is bent on making sure the industry does it right. What that means is that the industry is born with smart, safe regulations so that the public feels they're getting their cannabis from a trusted and safe source.

My day-to-day is half government regulations and half legal work. They're tied into each other. In-house in cannabis has to be on top of law and rulemaking and knowing what it means for compliance.

How will legalization of recreational weed sales change your role?

It's already impacting my role. It's such a complicated set of rules and regulations that I've had to hire a few lawyers. We've brought in talent to ensure that Eaze and its business partners are compliant with the law. Lawyers today, including my team, have to know from A to Z what the rules are at both the state and local level.

And because Eaze is a tech company, we've had a benefit that others in the industry don't have. We have the benefit of a lot of data, so we've taken that [anonymized customer] data and we've informed lawmakers and regulators about consumer use of cannabis. And so we've been able to inform global decision makers as to what smart regulations should look like in order to have a safe cannabis industry in California.

Can we expect more in-house lawyers in the cannabis industry after recreational sale is legalized in California? Right now, it seems they aren't the industry norm.

Most [cannabis] companies are small businesses [that] leverage outside counsel as opposed to bringing in inside counsel. As these businesses grow and the industry matures, especially a highly regulated industry like cannabis, businesses will find that it's always more efficient and smarter to bring in-house counsel [to the business] who have the regulatory expertise to make sure their business is compliant.

What drew you to work at Eaze?

It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity for any lawyer to go work at a fast-growing company in a new industry where the laws are being born as you start on day one. Much like what happened in the '90s with the growth of the tech industry, which was very exciting, you have the birth of a new industry. It's a very exciting opportunity for lawyers to help businesses basically meander through the complexities of the new laws that are being written. It's important and exciting for lawyers to have an opportunity to work with other industry partners to develop good legislation that gives the public what they need and want in a smart way.

Another draw was that Eaze is very focused on social responsibility and public issues like social justice, social equity, economic development and small business ownership. Eaze is looking to be a very powerful advocate for a lot of these issues at a national level.

And what's your role in regards to the public policy and advocacy work? Where does the CLO fit in?

I've worked with some social equity partners in the industry directly. I've worked with lobbyists to push those issues. I've worked with elected officials who are concerned, to assure them Eaze would be an advocate in the industry on those issues.

We have other people at Eaze who are also involved in social equity public policy advocacy, but as the company GC, I'm creating a trusted and safe regulatory framework.