By Karen Sloan, From The National Law Journal

A pot law professorship? It’s not a joke. The University of Denver Sturm College of Law is establishing what it believes is the first law school professorship in marijuana law and policy with a $45,000 gift from Vicente Sederberg, the self-described “marijuana law firm” in Denver.

Professor Sam Kamin of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. HANDOUT.

The three-year professorship will go to Sam Kamin (left), who last semester taught the country’s first law course about representing marijuana industry clients. The National Law Journal spoke with Vicente Sederberg founder Brian Vicente (below) about the donation and the role of the legal academy in the Wild West of marijuana law and policy. His answers have been edited for length.

NLJ: Where did the idea for the professorship came from?

Brian Vicente of Vicente Sederberg. HANDOUT.

Brian Vicente: I’ve had a long relationship with the University of Denver law school. I went there for my legal education, and while there was really encouraged to pursue marijuana law reform, which was a pretty edgy topic at the time. Some would say it’s still kind of edgy.

I’ve maintained a good relationship with the university since [graduating in 2004]. Professor Kamin was actually my criminal law professor over a decade ago. He and I are both sort of leaders in this area of marijuana policy reform—and him more so the jurisprudence related to that. We remained pretty close and discussed a couple of different opportunities to partner with the university on this topic over the years. I assisted Sam with the curriculum for his marijuana law class.

The dean approached our law firm and said, “We have this relationship and we want the University of Denver to continue to be a thought leader on the area of smart marijuana reform. How would you guys feel about endowing this professorship? It would empower Sam and allow the school continue to hold conferences in this area.” We were excited about the idea.

NLJ: You’ve received a lot of media attention since announcing the professorship on Monday. Are you surprised by the reaction people are having to an endowed legal professorship in marijuana law?

BV: It’s certainly cutting-edge. I’m a bit surprised but, at the same time, this is a hot topic in terms of the issues that are being addressed. We’re really watching the world change around us. We’ve had marijuana prohibition for about 80 years, and now places like Colorado are trying different things. As such, I think it’s really meaningful that a prestigious institution like the University of Denver has decided to stake out a leadership role in this area.

I think it will not only lead to smarter policies around marijuana, but it will attract students to their program. They now have this professorship, are holding conferences, and have, I think, the first ever class on marijuana law and representing marijuana clients. This is an area that younger students are really interested in, and I think it was a smart and savvy move by the university to look for that platform.

NLJ: What are the major marijuana issues that you would like the law school and the legal academy to examine?

BV: Colorado really has become a national leader in the area of marijuana law, and we really only legalized marijuana about two years ago. As such, I think there is a tremendous amount of research that can be done on how Colorado has changed in that time. It’s our belief that it’s been a positive factor and has led to job growth, economic development and better use of law enforcement resources.

There are many issues around that change in policy that the university could pursue. I think it’s safe to say that many government bodies and elected officials are looking at Colorado to see if this is something they could replicate in their state.

At our law firm, we hear probably once a week from elected officials across the globe who want to come visit with us as the authors of the measure to legalize marijuana. They want to meet with law enforcement in Colorado and elected officials to see if this is something they could do in their home country or municipality.

As such, we’re still trying to figure out things such as the tax rate—what’s the appropriate tax rate for this product? If it’s taxed too high, will people go to the black market to get a cheaper product? If it’s too low, is it going to produce the revenue the state needs to provide oversight to this industry?

And then there are questions about edibles, labeling of marijuana and what’s the appropriate way to educate the consumer.

Of course, we also have several prominent lawsuits going on against the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. I think the university would want to look at those and see if this law is going to stand legal ground, or what the U.S. Supreme Court would say about this.

NLJ: Given the trends, do you think other law schools will start to take marijuana law more seriously?

BV: I think so. When I started practicing about a decade ago, there weren’t very many medical-marijuana states. There weren’t very many recognized medical-marijuana patients and no state in history had legalized marijuana. Fast-forward 10 years, we have four states with legal marijuana and also Washington, D.C., and we have 23 states with medical-marijuana laws. This is something that’s impacting larger amounts of our country. As such, I fully expect lawyers in other states to have to start dealing with this issue more, and law students to be more interested in learning about how it might impact their practice.

IMAGE: Credit: iStockphoto.com

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202726896531/QA-How-Denver-Laws-Pot-Professorship-Came-to-Pass#ixzz3amg5JoAb