Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
The Hawaii Supreme Court is seeking comment on a proposal to amend legal ethics rules for medical marijuana.
The state Judiciary Communications & Community Relations Office will collect comments on the proposal for a Supreme Court rule change through Oct. 16.
The proposed amendment clarifies how Hawaii lawyers may assist clients that seek one of the state's first medical marijuana dispensary licenses.
Former Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and former Attorney General David Louie have called for the Hawaii high court to reconsider the Disciplinary Board's Aug.27 opinion, which encourages lawyers to advise clients on the new law, but discourages them from offering legal services to help establish a medical marijuana retail dispensary.
To to aid in the creation of such a business would prompt illegal activity on a federal scale, the board said.
Medical marijuana has been legal for 15 years in the Islands, but patients grew their own or resorted to the black market. The state Legislature passed an outline for the state's first network of dispensaries earlier this year.
The proposed amendment to the Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct is as follows.
"A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent, but a lawyer may discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of conduct with a client and may counsel or assist a client to make a good faith effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning, or application of the law, and may counsel or assist a client regarding conduct expressly permitted by Hawaii law, provided that the lawyer counsels the client about the legal consequences, under other applicable law, of the client's proposed course of conduct."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hawaii Supreme Court seeks comment on proposal amending legal ethics for medical marijuana
Author: Lorin Eleni Gill
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune Via The Associated Press
Website: The Business Journals
The state Judiciary Communications & Community Relations Office will collect comments on the proposal for a Supreme Court rule change through Oct. 16.
The proposed amendment clarifies how Hawaii lawyers may assist clients that seek one of the state's first medical marijuana dispensary licenses.
Former Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and former Attorney General David Louie have called for the Hawaii high court to reconsider the Disciplinary Board's Aug.27 opinion, which encourages lawyers to advise clients on the new law, but discourages them from offering legal services to help establish a medical marijuana retail dispensary.
To to aid in the creation of such a business would prompt illegal activity on a federal scale, the board said.
Medical marijuana has been legal for 15 years in the Islands, but patients grew their own or resorted to the black market. The state Legislature passed an outline for the state's first network of dispensaries earlier this year.
The proposed amendment to the Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct is as follows.
"A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent, but a lawyer may discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of conduct with a client and may counsel or assist a client to make a good faith effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning, or application of the law, and may counsel or assist a client regarding conduct expressly permitted by Hawaii law, provided that the lawyer counsels the client about the legal consequences, under other applicable law, of the client's proposed course of conduct."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Hawaii Supreme Court seeks comment on proposal amending legal ethics for medical marijuana
Author: Lorin Eleni Gill
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune Via The Associated Press
Website: The Business Journals
