Steve S. Baghoomian

Steve S. Baghoomian is the founder of Baghoomian Law and one of California’s most experienced commercial cannabis attorneys. He has built his entire career around a single, focused mission: helping cannabis businesses get licensed, stay compliant, and survive the administrative actions that can otherwise end an operation overnight. What sets Steve apart is not only what he has accomplished as a lawyer, but where he began — as a former special investigator for the State of California. He has sat on the government’s side of the table, and he now uses that insider’s understanding to protect cannabis operators throughout the state.

A Former State Investigator Who Knows How the Government Builds Its Case

Before he ever represented a cannabis business, Steve Baghoomian worked as a special investigator for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). In that role, he learned firsthand how state agencies build their cases: how investigations are opened, how evidence is gathered and documented, how violations are identified and charged, and how regulators ultimately decide whether to pursue discipline. That experience is rare among cannabis attorneys, and it is the foundation of everything Steve does today.

Most lawyers learn regulatory enforcement from the outside, reacting to an agency’s decisions after the fact. Steve learned it from the inside. He understands the mindset of the investigator standing inside a licensee’s premises, the procedural steps an agency is required to follow, and — critically — the mistakes and shortcuts that can undermine an enforcement action. When a client is facing a California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) investigation, citation, or accusation, Steve is able to anticipate the government’s next move because he has made those moves himself. He knows where cases are strong, where they are weak, and how to hold the agency to its burden of proof.

This investigator’s background also shapes how Steve helps clients avoid enforcement in the first place. He prepares license applications and builds compliance systems with an eye toward exactly what regulators look for — closing the gaps that investigators are trained to find before they ever become a problem. For his clients, that means fewer surprises, stronger applications, and a real advantage if the state ever comes knocking.

More DCC Administrative Actions Than Any Attorney in California

Steve Baghoomian has handled more DCC administrative actions than any other attorney in California. Administrative enforcement is the part of cannabis practice that most threatens an operator’s livelihood — and it is the part Steve has spent his career mastering. To date, he has defended 261 DCC inquiries and investigations, representing licensees through the full range of enforcement proceedings: notices to comply, citations and administrative fines, accusations, hearings before the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), settlement negotiations, and appeals to the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel.

The results speak to that focus. To date, none of Steve’s clients have had a license revoked or suspended. In an industry where a single enforcement action can shut down a business permanently, that record reflects both the depth of Steve’s experience and the value of his investigator’s perspective. He knows that enforcement cases are won on procedure and proof — whether the agency followed its own rules, whether it can substantiate each alleged violation, and whether there is room to negotiate an outcome that keeps a compliant business operating.

For cannabis operators, the difference between a lawyer who occasionally handles a DCC matter and one who has handled hundreds is enormous. Steve has seen nearly every type of violation the DCC alleges — track-and-trace discrepancies, premises issues, surveillance and recordkeeping gaps, labeling and testing problems, unlicensed-activity allegations, and ownership-disclosure questions — and he knows how each is best defended. That volume of experience means there are few situations he has not encountered before, and few arguments the government can make that he has not already answered.

15+ Years at the Center of California’s Cannabis Industry

Steve has spent more than 15 years working in and around California’s cannabis industry — a period that spans the transition from medical collectives under the Compassionate Use Act, through the passage of the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), to today’s mature and heavily regulated market overseen by the DCC. Few attorneys have watched the industry evolve for as long, or as closely, as Steve has.

That longevity matters. California’s cannabis rules have changed repeatedly, and each shift — the consolidation of three separate agencies into the single Department of Cannabis Control, the phase-out of provisional licensing, and the tightening of CEQA and compliance requirements — has reshaped what operators must do to stay in business. Steve has guided clients through every one of these transitions. He understands not just the current regulations, but the history and trajectory of the law, which allows him to advise clients on where the industry is heading and how to position their businesses accordingly.

His long tenure has also given him deep familiarity with the local landscape. California’s dual-licensing system means operators must satisfy both the state and their local jurisdiction, and local rules differ dramatically from one city or county to the next. Steve regularly appears before the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) and works with jurisdictions throughout the state, giving clients an advocate who genuinely understands both layers of the system — and how to move a matter forward at each.

A Track Record Measured in Licenses Won and Licenses Protected

Steve’s practice is defined by measurable results. Over the course of his career, he has obtained 104 California cannabis licenses for his clients, spanning every license type the state issues — retail (storefront and delivery), distribution, manufacturing, cultivation, testing, and microbusiness. He has guided first-time entrepreneurs from an idea to an operating, licensed business, and he has helped established operators expand into new jurisdictions and new license categories.

On the enforcement side, the numbers are just as significant: 261 DCC inquiries and investigations defended, with no client license revoked or suspended to date. Together, these figures tell the story of a practice that covers the entire life cycle of a cannabis business — helping clients obtain their licenses, keep them, and protect them when the state comes calling. Behind every number is a business and a livelihood, and Steve approaches each matter with the understanding that, for his clients, the license is often everything they have built.

How Steve Baghoomian Helps Cannabis Businesses

Steve offers cannabis operators a complete range of legal services, structured around the realities of California’s regulatory system. Whether a client is just entering the market or defending against a serious enforcement action, Steve provides focused, experienced representation across four core areas.

Cannabis Licensing

Steve helps cannabis businesses navigate California’s two-part licensing system, securing both local approval and a state annual license from the DCC. He prepares and manages applications for every license type, handles renewals and modifications, and guides clients through premises and ownership changes. With provisional licensing now sunset, full compliance — including CEQA documentation, owner and financial-interest-holder disclosures, and detailed standard operating procedures — is mandatory, and Steve makes sure each application is complete and defensible. When an application is denied, he represents clients through the Statement of Issues process and the appeals that follow.

DCC Administrative-Action & Enforcement Defense

This is the heart of Steve’s practice. He defends licensed operators at every stage of the DCC enforcement process — responding to investigations, contesting citations and administrative fines, filing the critical Notice of Defense within its strict 15-day deadline, challenging whether the agency followed proper procedure, representing clients at OAH hearings, negotiating stipulated settlements that keep businesses operating, and pursuing appeals to the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel and, when necessary, the California Court of Appeal. His investigator’s background and his experience across hundreds of matters make him uniquely equipped to protect a client’s license.

Buying, Selling & Cannabis Transactions

Because cannabis licenses cannot be freely bought or sold, Steve structures acquisitions and sales around California’s change-of-ownership rules. He conducts compliance-focused due diligence, negotiates purchase agreements, and manages the regulatory approvals that make a deal enforceable — protecting buyers from inheriting hidden liabilities and helping sellers close cleanly and on schedule.

Outside General Counsel

For operators who need ongoing support, Steve serves as outside general counsel — monitoring regulatory changes, keeping compliance systems current, drafting and negotiating contracts, managing corporate governance and ownership disclosures, advising on employment and labor peace requirements, and protecting brands. Because he also handles enforcement defense, the compliance systems he builds are designed to withstand exactly the kind of scrutiny the DCC applies.

The Advantage of an Investigator’s Perspective

What makes Steve Baghoomian effective is the combination of two things most attorneys never have together: years inside a California regulatory agency, and years defending the very businesses those agencies regulate. He approaches every matter the way an investigator would — methodically, with close attention to procedure and evidence — but always in service of the client.

In a licensing matter, that means anticipating the questions and objections a reviewer will raise and answering them before they become problems. In an enforcement matter, it means scrutinizing the agency’s case the way a colleague would once have reviewed his own work: Did investigators follow the required steps? Is each alleged violation actually supported by evidence? Were the client’s rights respected throughout? Time and again, the answers to those questions create the openings that protect a license.

This perspective also makes Steve a clear communicator. He explains to clients not just what the rules say, but why regulators enforce them the way they do — turning an opaque and intimidating process into something operators can understand and navigate with confidence. Clients are never left guessing about where their matter stands or what comes next.

Who Steve Represents

Steve represents the full spectrum 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. His clients range from first-time entrepreneurs opening a single location to multi-license operators expanding across the state. Based in Glendale, Steve serves clients throughout California — including Los Angeles, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Pasadena, Burbank, and the San Fernando Valley — before both the DCC and local agencies such as the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation.

Education & Bar Admissions

Steve earned his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from California State University, Northridge, where he was named to the Dean’s List. His academic focus on criminology, combined with his early career as a state investigator, gave him an understanding of enforcement and regulatory systems that would later come to define his legal practice.

He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2011 and is also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Steve founded Baghoomian Law to bring focused, high-level cannabis representation to operators across the state, and he leads the firm from its office on Brand Boulevard in Glendale.

A Client-First Approach

Clients consistently describe Steve and his team as responsive, hard-working, and deeply knowledgeable — qualities that matter most when a business’s license is on the line. Steve understands that cannabis operators face pressures businesses in other industries do not: constantly shifting regulations, aggressive enforcement, banking and tax challenges, and the ever-present risk that a single misstep could jeopardize everything they have built. He meets those challenges with practical, results-driven counsel and a genuine commitment to each client’s success.

Whether he is helping a new operator obtain a first license in a matter of months or defending an established business against a serious DCC accusation, Steve brings the same focus to every engagement: protect the client, protect the license, and keep the business moving forward.

A Practice Built Entirely on California Cannabis Law

Steve Baghoomian does not treat cannabis law as one practice area among many — it is the entirety of his practice, and that singular focus is a deliberate choice. California’s cannabis regulations are among the most detailed and fast-changing in the country, and they intersect with local ordinances, environmental law, tax rules, employment requirements, and administrative procedure in ways a general practitioner simply cannot track. By concentrating exclusively on cannabis, Steve stays current on every regulatory update, every revision to the DCC’s disciplinary guidelines, and every shift in how state and local agencies approach enforcement.

This focus benefits clients in concrete ways. Steve rarely has to learn a client’s problem from scratch, because he has almost certainly seen a version of it before. He knows which arguments resonate with the DCC and which do not, how particular jurisdictions handle applications and ownership changes, and how to move a matter efficiently through a system that can otherwise stall for months. For operators who cannot afford delay or missteps, that depth of experience translates directly into time saved and risk reduced.

Representative Matters and Areas of Experience

Over more than 15 years, Steve has handled a broad range of cannabis matters throughout California, including:

• New state and local cannabis license applications across all license types
• Provisional-to-annual license transitions and CEQA compliance
• License renewals, premises modifications, and ownership-change approvals
• Responses to DCC investigations and notices to comply
• Defense against citations and administrative fines
• Accusations seeking license suspension or revocation
• Hearings before the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH)
• Stipulated settlements and negotiated resolutions with regulators
• Appeals to the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel
• Cannabis business acquisitions, sales, and financing transactions
• Ongoing general counsel and enterprise-wide compliance programs

Why Cannabis Operators Across California Trust Steve Baghoomian

For cannabis operators, choosing a lawyer is one of the most consequential decisions they will make. The right attorney can be the difference between a license granted and an application denied, or between a business that survives an enforcement action and one that does not. Steve Baghoomian offers a combination of qualifications that is genuinely hard to match: an insider’s understanding of state investigations, more DCC administrative actions handled than any other attorney in California, 104 cannabis licenses obtained, 261 investigations defended, and more than 15 years immersed in the industry.

Just as important is how Steve works. He is accessible and responsive, he communicates in plain language, and he treats each client’s business as if it were his own. Operators who come to Steve are not handed off to junior staff or left in the dark — they work directly with an attorney who has seen their situation before and knows how to move it toward the best available outcome. That is why cannabis businesses across California, from single-location startups to established multi-license companies, continue to trust Steve Baghoomian with their most important legal matters.

Serving the Greater Los Angeles Area and All of California

Baghoomian Law is headquartered on Brand Boulevard in Glendale, in the heart of the Greater Los Angeles cannabis market, but Steve’s practice reaches every corner of the state. He represents operators throughout the City and County of Los Angeles — including Hollywood, West Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Pasadena, and Burbank — and works with jurisdictions from the Bay Area to the Central Valley to the far reaches of Southern California. Because cannabis licensing is governed both by the state and by each local jurisdiction, Steve’s familiarity with the specific ordinances, application processes, and enforcement tendencies of individual cities and counties is a meaningful advantage. Wherever a client’s business is located, Steve can help them obtain, maintain, and defend their license before both the DCC and the relevant local authority.

Frequently Asked Questions About Steve Baghoomian

To discuss your cannabis licensing or enforcement matter with Steve Baghoomian, call Baghoomian Law at (818) 514-9272 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every matter is different, and prior successes are not a guarantee of future results.