Joseph C. Bedwick concentrates his practice in general business and corporate law, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions. Joe is co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Cannabis Industry Team and is a former hiring partner for the firm. Joe’s corporate practice involves a diverse array of industries, and he has represented clients in transactions occurring at every phase of a business’ life cycle.
His extensive acquisition experience includes helping clients structure and negotiate business combinations and divestitures, including mergers, asset and stock sales and acquisitions, and joint ventures and strategic alliances in the United States and abroad. He also has significant experience in debt and equity financings and venture capital and other minority investments as well as corporate formations, restructurings, and liquidations.
Additionally, Joe provides ongoing legal advice to a number of clients in the areas of licensing, commercial contracts, corporate governance and counseling, stockholder and voting agreements, and employment and non-competition agreements.
As co-chair of the firm’s Cannabis Industry Team, Joe has spearheaded the development of a multidisciplinary cannabis practice into a full-service industry team comprised of attorneys from virtually every practice group within Cozen O’Connor and with an industry team representative resident in 13 of the jurisdictions across the country in which cannabis is legal at the state level.
He applies his corporate knowledge and counseling background to help clients navigate this rapidly developing regulated industry, most notably in utilizing his mergers and acquisitions experience to structure and document acquisitions of cannabis license holders.
Further, Joe provides regulatory advice with respect to cannabis matters to clients in over 15 states. Through this work, Joe and the cannabis team have developed a comprehensive understanding of each such state’s cannabis regulations. Joe received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991 and his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1994.
EXPERIENCE :
- Represented Sony Corporation of America in its acquisition of iCyt Mission Technology, Inc., a leading producer of high-performance cell sorters used for stem cell and disease research.
- Represented Sony Corporation of America in its acquisition of Micronics Inc., a developer of near patient point of care devices for disease diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
- Represented Health Market Science, Inc., a supplier of data on health care professionals and the administrator of one of the largest practitioner-level medical claims databases in the United States, in its acquisition by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a division of Reed Elsevier.
- Represented McIntyre Risk Management, LLC, a retail insurance broker providing commercial and risk management insurance products and services, in its acquisition by the international insurance brokerage firm, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
- Represented a client in the redomestication and change in entity of 16 entities, in which the entities went from Pennsylvania S-corporations or limited liability companies to Delaware limited liability companies.
- Served as Acreage Holdings, Inc.’s U.S. corporate counsel in its reverse takeover of Toronto-based Applied Inventions Management, resulting in the listing of Acreage shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and the company raising $314 million ahead of its trading debut.
- Represented Acreage Holdings, Inc. in a loan transaction with a cannabis facility in which Acreage will be managing through a management services agreement.
- Represent company provider of micro-taggant based product tracking systems to state agencies managing licensed cannabis programs in corporate formation, fundraising, and in negotiating a master services agreement with its chief technology partner.
- Represent cannabis testing company in formation issues, preparation of limited liability company agreement, and an initial round of equity financing.
EDUCATION :
- University of Pittsburgh School of Law, J.D., 1994
- University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1991
BAR ADMISSIONS : Pennsylvania
COURT ADMISSIONS :
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
AFFILIATIONS :
- American Bar Association
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Philadelphia Bar Association
- Philadelphia Bar Association Medical Marijuana and Hemp Committee
Cost
Rate : $$$