Marshall Custer

Marshall A. Custer is a member of Husch Blackwell’s Cannabis team, where he serves as outside general counsel for clients that are active in or entering into the regulated cannabis market in Colorado and nationally.

He works closely with individual entrepreneurs and executives on matters of marijuana and industrial hemp regulatory compliance, corporate structuring, debt and equity financing, governance, securities compliance, and mergers and acquisitions. In general, his representation of these companies and investors has been focused on :

• Negotiating the acquisition and sale of licensed marijuana businesses
• Developing corporate structures to comply with complex regulatory requirements
• Structuring financing and commercial contracts consistent with the regulatory scheme
• Assisting clients with regulatory and policy matters.

Prior to joining Husch Blackwell, Marshall served as general counsel for a prominent music streaming startup as it transitioned from an early to growth-stage company. He continues to represent a number of emerging technology companies.

Marshall also regularly assists the firm’s middle and large market clients with mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions.

Experience :

• Negotiates the successful purchase of numerous adult-use and medical marijuana licenses and their associated businesses.
• Structures several technology and intellectual property holding companies in the cannabis industry that develop and license proprietary technology and trademarks.
• Advises emerging growth cannabis technology and business solution companies in connection with corporate formation, seed and series A financing and commercial contracts.
• Represented clients in development of commercial greenhouses used by cannabis tenants in Colorado and California
• Provides ongoing regulatory, employment, tax, corporate and securities legal advice to various adult-use, medical and industrial hemp cannabis clients.
• Assists public company clients active in the cannabis space with securities compliance and corporate structuring to comply with local regulatory regimes.
• Provide strategic guidance, in coordination of federal and local lobbying efforts, to help clients mitigate continuing changes to cannabis regulations.
• Represented large agricultural chemical company in spin-off of proprietary technology subsidiary.
• Prepared co-packing and other commercial contracts on behalf of intellectual property holding companies for nutraceutical and food and beverage manufacturing.

Education :

• J.D., University of Colorado School of Law
• M.B.A., University of Colorado Leeds School of Business
• B.S.E., Purdue University

Admissions : California, Colorado

Professional Associations and Memberships :

• American Bar Association
• Colorado Bar Association
• National Cannabis Industry Association, Legal & Banking Committee, Board Member