Rachel Gillette | Cannabis Attorney | Greenspoon Marder Cannabis Law

Overview
Experience
Awards
Publications
Articles

Rachel Gillette is among the first attorneys in the nation to dedicate her practice to the cannabis industry. Since 2010, Ms. Gillette has helped licensed cannabis and hemp businesses with licensing, permitting and regulatory compliance, business law and transactions, contract drafting and review, tax litigation, corporate formation, and other tax matters, including audit representation. She works with startups and entrepreneurs, investors, and ancillary industry businesses to help develop the cannabis innovation ecosystem, and is a zealous advocate for the industry.

Ms. Gillette regularly represents clients before the IRS’s Examinations, Appeals, and Collections Divisions, including cannabis businesses facing the challenges of IRS adjustments under IRC §280E. She has successfully challenged local, state and federal tax deficiencies on behalf of her clients, having prevented hundreds of thousands of dollars in incorrectly assessed taxes, interest, and penalties. She can assist individual and business taxpayers in §280E proposed adjustments, offers in compromise, audit examinations, innocent spouse claims, sales, use, and employment tax matters, trust fund tax penalty assessments, penalty abatements, and levy releases. Additionally, Ms. Gillette has significant U.S. Tax Court litigation experience, which is highly beneficial in unique and complex cannabis tax matters.

For several years, Ms. Gillette was the Executive Director of the Colorado state chapter of NORML, the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. She was a founding member of Women Grow and the National Cannabis Bar Association. She an advocate as well as an attorney, and is committed to helping change laws – and perceptions – relating to cannabis and ensuring state licensed and legal marijuana businesses are fairly taxed and regulated.

Ms. Gillette received her Juris Doctorate from the Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut, where she served as Associate Editor of the Quinnipiac University Probate Law Journal. During law school, she interned with the New Haven Public Defender’s office, where she developed her commitment to advocacy for those facing the many challenges of the criminal justice system.

Ms. Gillette serves on the Management Committee at Greenspoon Marder.

Court Admissions

U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
U.S. Tax Court

Bar Admissions

Colorado
Connecticut

Education

J.D., Quinnipiac University, 2007
B.A., Political Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2004
- Certificate in Peace & Conflict Studies

Experience

Professional and Community Involvement

Colorado NORML, Board Member and Former Executive Director
NORML, Legal Committee, Member
Women Grow, Founding Member
National Cannabis Bar Association, Founding Member
National Cannabis Industry Association, Member
Colorado Bar Association, Member

Speaking Engagements

Speaker, “The Cannabis Industry: Taxes, IRS Audits and Sec. 280E,” AICPA Webcast, January 27, 2020
Speaker, “Accounting For Cannabis And The IRS,” CLAB’s 4th Annual Cannabis Law and Business Conference, October 28, 2019
Speaker, “Moving the Needle at the Federal Level,” Institutional Capital & Cannabis Conference East (IC3), October 21, 2019
Speaker, “Is CBD the New Energy Drink?,” Convenience Retailing University Conference, February 28, 2019
Moderator, “Best Practices for Cannabis Industry Companies,” Denver Business Journal’s The Business of Cannabis: The State of the Industry, January 30, 2019
Speaker, “Status of Industry, Legal and Business Updates,” Cannabis LAB Conference, November 7, 2018
Speaker, “Tax, Accounting and What to Legally Do With The Money,” Cannabis LAB Conference, November 7, 2018
Speaker, “Cannabis Legalization and the Waterfall Effect: How Each State Impacts the Next,” National Law Journal, April 18, 2018
Speaker, “Services to Businesses Involved in Marijuana,” AICPA National Tax Conference, November 7, 2017
Speaker, “High on Loss Prevention: Representing Clients in the Marijuana Industry,” Aon Law Firm Symposium, October 18, 2017
Speaker, “North Meet South: Integrating Northern California Cultivation into the Southern California Market,” Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo Los Angeles, September 14, 2017
Speaker, “Silicon Valley Meets Bob Marley: The Right Way To Do Drugs,” The Economist Canada Summit, September 7, 2017
Speaker, “Challenges of Representing A Client In An IRS Audit,” NORML Aspen Legal Seminar, June 1, 2017
Speaker, “Suing the regulators. Can you? Should You?,” National Cannabis Industry Association Cannabis Business Summit & Expo, June 13, 2017
Speaker, “Conflicts and Cannabis,” The Florida Bar’s Annual Convention, June 21, 2017
Speaker, Marijuana Big Thinker Talks On The Hill, May 3, 2017
Speaker, “IP in the Cannabis Industry,” Greenspoon Marder Denver Cannabis Workshop, April 6, 2017
Speaker, “Navigating the Regulatory, Compliance and Tax Landscape” Institutional Capital & Cannabis Conference, March 27, 2017
Speaker, “Marijuana, the Law, and Banking,” South Florida Banking Institute, March 15, 2017
Speaker, “Cannabis Legalization and the Waterfall Effect: How One State’s Failures Impact The Next,” National Law Journal Webcast, February 16, 2017
Speaker, “What You Need to Know About Compliance & Regulation,” Women Grow Leadership Summit, February 3, 2017
Speaker, “Banking in the Marijuana Business and Tax Matters” Colorado Bar Association Cannabis Law Committee CLE Cannabis Symposium, February 2, 2017
Speaker, “The Domino Effect of Cannabis Legalization,” High Times Summit, January 19, 2017
Speaker, “Live Twitter Chat on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Actions Tied To Marijuana Rescheduling and Research,” Marijuana Business Daily, August 25, 2017

Awards

Recognitions

Law Week Colorado, “Best Marijuana Law Lawyer,” Barrister’s Choice, 2019
Chambers & Partners, “Cannabis Law – Nationwide,” 2019
Denver Business Journal, “2019 Outstanding Women in Business,” Finalist, 2019
High Times magazine, “Women of Weed,” 2018-2019
5280 magazine, “Top Lawyer,” Marijuana Law, 2015-2019
Remedy Review, “Top 20 Women on the Move in Cannabis,” 2018
mg Magazine, “Powerful Cannabis Attorney,” 2018
National Law Journal, “Cannabis Trailblazer,” 2018
Complex magazine, “15 of the Most Powerful Women In the Weed Industry,” 2017
NORML, “Distinguished Counsel’s Circle,” 2016
Sensi magazine, Named One of 24 “Cannabis Pioneers,” May 2016
Cannabis Business Executive, “100 Most Influential People in the Cannabis Industry,” 2014
Cannabis Business Awards, “MVP,” 2014-2015