Patricia is a partner in the firm’s Cannabis & Hemp and Business Litigation Practices. As one of the sought-after authorities on legal developments in the industry, she provides a broad range of legal services to businesses in the legalized cannabis sector. Her experience allows her to focus on providing strategic regulatory, transactional, and litigation advice to the cannabis and hemp industry.
Prior to joining Hodgson Russ, Patricia served as interim General Counsel and First Deputy General Counsel for the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) since the agency’s inception. She helped draft the New York State regulations for the cannabis industry; revised the Cannabis Law; represented the agency in significant constitutional challenges, matters of first impression, and regulatory and compliance cases; and advised the agency’s licensing, regulatory and operational units, and the Cannabis Control Board. Patricia also served as sales tax counsel for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Patricia also has extensive experience representing lenders enforcing remedies under loan documents in asset recovery and creditors’ rights matters. She has litigated breach of contract, fraud, lender liability, and other commercial claims in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts.
In the bankruptcy and workout context, Patricia has advised lenders, financial institutions, funds, liquidation trusts, creditors, lessors, debtor-in-possession financing providers, entities acquiring assets of distressed companies, institutions selling claims, and fraudulent conveyance and preference claims.
As an adjunct to her practice, Patricia co-founded the Cannabis Law Digest, a legal online digest that curated and summarized federal and all state cannabis court decisions, cannabis agency determinations and guidance, state cannabis statutes and regulations, federal statutes and regulations impacting the industry, and new litigation commenced in the cannabis industry.
Patricia regularly presents for numerous organizations on cannabis-centered topics, including:
- Speaker, “Transferring Ownership of Cannabis Businesses in New York,” Cultivated Media, November 2024
- Speaker, “Top 10 Regulatory Enforcements,” NYSBA Cannabis Section Annual Meeting, January 2024
- Speaker, “Cannabis Law Conference,” NYCBA 2023, July 2023
- Speaker, “Regulatory Panel,” NYSBA Cannabis Section Annual Meeting, January 2023
- Speaker, “Law and Money,” NY Cannabis Live Insider; Albany, New York; October 2019
- Moderator, “Business and Law of Marijuana,” CWCB Expo; Los Angeles, California; September 2019
- Speaker, “Federal Cases Update,” Int’l Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA) webinar, September 2019
- Speaker, “The Cannabis Goldrush and IP Landgrab,” NYC Bar Association, New York City, June 2019
- Speaker, “Cannabis Business Operators Insolvency Considerations,” ProLawCLE, February 2019
- Speaker, “Settlement, Mediation, and Arbitration,” INCBA; George Washington Law School, Washington, D.C.; September 2018
- Speaker, “Cannabis–New Investing Frontier,” Association Corporate Growth, New York City, April 2018
Services
Education
St. John's University, B.A.
Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, J.D.
Admissions
- New York
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York
Bar Associations
- International Cannabis Bar Association - Emerging Issues Section
Recognitions
- United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York - Law Clerk to Honorable Robert E. Grossman
- Epstein Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service for Consumer Bankruptcy Project - New York City Bar Association Justice Center