Business Services

Baghoomian Law is a California cannabis law firm that helps operators get licensed, stay compliant, and defend their licenses when the state challenges them. Explore each of our core services using the links below, then read our complete overview of what we do for cannabis businesses across California.

Explore Our Cannabis Business Services

• Cannabis Licensing — state (DCC) and local licensing throughout California
• Government Investigations & DCC Administrative-Action Defense — citations, accusations, hearings, and appeals
• Buying / Selling Your Business — cannabis mergers, acquisitions, and change-of-ownership
• General Counsel Services — ongoing outside counsel for cannabis operators

What Baghoomian Law Does for California Cannabis Businesses

California operates one of the largest and most heavily regulated cannabis markets in the world under the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA). Every commercial operator must hold a state license from the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) and separate approval from the city or county where it operates, and must remain in continuous compliance with the detailed rules in Title 4 of the California Code of Regulations. The margin for error is thin: a lapsed license, a track-and-trace discrepancy, or an unanswered notice can turn into fines, suspension, or revocation. Baghoomian Law focuses its entire practice on this industry, guiding retailers, delivery services, distributors, manufacturers, cultivators, testing laboratories, and microbusinesses through every stage of the regulatory life cycle — from the first license application to the defense of that license years later. The overview below explains the four ways we help cannabis businesses; each linked page goes into greater detail.

Cannabis Licensing Throughout California

Getting licensed is the most important step in launching or expanding a cannabis business, and in California it is a two-part process. Operators need local approval — a permit, license, or authorization — from the city or county where they will operate, and a state annual license from the DCC, which will not issue that license until local approval is in place. Local rules vary widely: some jurisdictions cap the number of licenses, others prohibit commercial cannabis entirely, and each sets its own zoning, buffer, and application requirements. The DCC issues licenses across the entire supply chain — retail (storefront and delivery), distribution, manufacturing, cultivation (organized by canopy tier, plus nursery and processor licenses), testing, and microbusiness — most in both adult-use and medicinal designations. A complete annual application is far more than a form: it typically requires proof of local authorization, the legal right to occupy the premises, a premises diagram, evidence of CEQA compliance, disclosure of every owner and financial interest holder with background checks, a seller’s permit, a $5,000 surety bond, and detailed standard operating procedures. Now that California has phased out provisional licensing, full compliance is mandatory to obtain and keep a license. We prepare and manage applications, renewals, premises and ownership changes, and appeals of license denials before the Office of Administrative Hearings and the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel. Learn more on our Cannabis Licensing page.

DCC Enforcement and Administrative-Action Defense

A license is not the finish line — keeping it is an ongoing obligation, and the DCC actively enforces the rules. Enforcement generally escalates through predictable stages: a Notice to Comply for minor issues, a citation with administrative fines for more serious violations, and an accusation that begins a formal disciplinary case seeking suspension or revocation. Fines can reach $5,000 per violation for licensees and up to $30,000 per violation for unlicensed activity, and each day a violation continues can count separately. The deadlines are unforgiving: when the DCC serves an accusation, an operator generally has just 15 days to file a Notice of Defense, and missing that window can produce a default decision without a hearing. Common triggers include track-and-trace (Metrc) discrepancies, operating outside the licensed premises or on a lapsed license, surveillance and recordkeeping gaps, labeling and testing violations, diversion to the unlicensed market, and unreported ownership changes. We defend operators at every stage — responding to investigations, contesting citations, filing a timely Notice of Defense, challenging whether the agency followed proper procedure and can prove each violation, representing clients at hearings before the Office of Administrative Hearings, negotiating stipulated settlements that keep businesses open where possible, and pursuing appeals to the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel and, if necessary, the California Court of Appeal. Learn more on our Government Investigations page.

Buying and Selling a Cannabis Business

Cannabis businesses change hands often, but a cannabis license cannot simply be bought and sold like an ordinary asset. The license attaches to specific owners and a specific premises, so acquisitions are structured as a regulated change in ownership of the licensed entity, which must be disclosed to the DCC and, in most jurisdictions, separately approved at the local level. Whether a deal is structured as an asset purchase or an equity purchase carries significant regulatory and tax consequences — in an entity purchase, the buyer inherits the company’s compliance history, good and bad. Our due diligence looks past the balance sheet to the risks that actually sink cannabis deals: license status and any history of discipline, track-and-trace accuracy, local permit compliance, outstanding cannabis taxes and IRC §280E exposure, real property and lease terms, undisclosed financial interest holders, and pending disputes. We prepare and negotiate the purchase agreement, representations and warranties, and indemnification terms, coordinate the required regulatory approvals, and structure closing so ownership and money change hands only when the regulatory conditions are met. Learn more on our Buying / Selling Your Business page.

Outside General Counsel for Cannabis Operators

Between licensing and enforcement, cannabis operators face a constant stream of day-to-day legal questions, and most cannot justify a full-time in-house legal department. As outside general counsel, we become a fixed part of the team — monitoring DCC and local regulatory changes, keeping standard operating procedures, track-and-trace, packaging, labeling, and recordkeeping in order, and answering the operational questions that come up as the business runs. We draft and negotiate the vendor, distribution, lease, financing, and partnership agreements the business depends on; maintain corporate governance and manage owner and financial-interest-holder disclosures; advise on employment policies and the labor peace agreements many licensees must have; and help protect brands through California state trademark strategies, since cannabis goods cannot be federally trademarked. Periodic compliance audits identify and correct vulnerabilities before regulators find them — and if enforcement does arise, we are already positioned to defend the business. Engagements can be structured on a flat monthly, project, or as-needed basis. Learn more on our General Counsel Services page.

Cannabis Operators We Represent

We represent the full range of California cannabis operators — storefront and non-storefront (delivery) retailers, full and transport-only distributors, volatile and non-volatile manufacturers, cultivators of every canopy tier, nurseries and processors, testing laboratories, microbusinesses, and cannabis event organizers. Based in the Los Angeles area, we serve clients throughout California — including Los Angeles, Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Long Beach, and the San Fernando Valley — before both the DCC and local agencies such as the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR).

Why Cannabis Operators Choose Baghoomian Law

Cannabis law is all we do. We stay current with the DCC’s evolving regulations and disciplinary guidelines, we understand how sharply local ordinances differ from one jurisdiction to the next, and — unlike firms that handle only transactions or only litigation — we work both the licensing side and the enforcement-defense side of the practice. That means the same firm that helps you get licensed can protect that license if it is ever challenged, and the compliance systems we build are designed with an eye toward how the DCC actually investigates and prosecutes violations.

Frequently Asked Questions About California Cannabis Business Law

Ready to protect your cannabis business? Call Baghoomian Law at (818) 514-9272 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.