Karen Albence on Litigation
As cannabis reform and legalization across the American states continue to be enshrined, the legal industry continues to grow rapidly. Albeit for some recent disturbances and troubles in the total retail cannabis sales across the Legal States, the larger the industry becomes so will the need for quality legal representation grow significantly as well. Especially with the billions of retail sales dollars accumulated every year and several multi-million dollar acquisitions occurring regularly, it’s tantamount for cannabis businesses to hire knowledgeable and experienced attorneys.
Within civil litigation in particular, it’s incredibly important to have the best possible legal representation. Given the general and regular uncertainty of the cannabis industry, business partners splitting up and dividing assets isn’t totally uncommon. When these matters unfortunately arise, that’s when lawyers are essential. One such experienced attorney who works with Cultiva Law in the fields of civil and commercial litigation is Managing Partner Karen Albence.
A graduate of Penn State for her undergrad and Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Albence provides representation and services for a diverse variety of legal matters, including but not limited to; claims of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, business torts and unfair competition claims, fraud, real estate litigation and most importantly for cannabis businesses, shareholder and partnership disputes.
Being as experienced in these fields as Albence is, it’s especially helpful given how confusing and convoluted the laws surrounding civil litigation in California can oftentimes be and how various types of local, state and judicial law all counteract or intangible within each other. Before working in cannabis law however, Albence spent 18 years working as a personal injury attorney for the plaintiff’s side only where she perfected the vital skills of working with just about any type of personality of the plaintiff.
“That type of experience provided a different type of insight in business litigation and because I had so many years of experience
with particular defendants, injured plaintiffs and insurance companies, that I had a good experience on how to relate to my clients. And then also how to help them facilitate the process of going through litigation for the first time. Because I represented plaintiffs who were injured parties for so long, it gave me the ability to assist them in facilitating the litigation process.”
Despite the huge juxtaposition from personal injury law to the many relevant fields of cannabis law, Albence believes that communication and interpersonal skills that are perfected by dealing with a wide array of clients are of the utmost importance. Regardless of the exact type of law or what the stated allegations on the initial complaint are for the case, a lawyer must have personal skills and know what would be the absolute best course of action for their clients.
“It doesn’t matter what type of case it is. You’re still working with people. When you learn how to communicate with people or look at the case from their perspective and understand what their concerns are, you’ll have a better idea of how to maneuver their case for them in the system and how to accept what’s going on in the case.”
