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Get to Know BMD: Jeff Joseph Jr.

Blog Post

Our “Get to Know BMD” series introduces you to the professionals who drive our firm’s success. We delve into the personal and professional stories of our team members, exploring their career paths, practice areas, and the passions that inspire their work. Get to Know BMD in this spotlight with Attorney Jeff Joseph Jr.

What is your practice area and why did you choose it?
I practice intellectual property law which encompasses patents, copyrights, and trademarks. I chose this field of law as I felt that working with patents specifically was a good fit with my engineering background, as I enjoy studying and learning about mechanical inventions, as well as learning about different technological fields via the inventions our clients bring to us to protect. I was also inspired to pursue patent law in particular by my late grandfather, who was a nuclear engineer and patent holder.

What do you enjoy most about practicing law?
The most rewarding aspect of my practice is the opportunity to learn about inventions and ideas, and then help transform them into tangible legal protections such as a patent, trademark, or copyright. Each invention or idea presents a unique challenge of not only deeply understanding a complex technology or an idea, but also crafting a strategy that sufficiently protects it. This collaborative process of turning inventions or ideas into enforceable rights is deeply fulfilling, as I get to play a pivotal role in encouraging innovation and protecting the fruits of my client's hard work.

If you weren't a lawyer, what alternative career path do you think you might have pursued?
I would probably pursue a career in coaching soccer at the high school or college level. I have played and refereed soccer most of my life, and also had the opportunity during college to coach an Ohio high school team that finished as a state runner-up and state champion in back-to-back years.

What was your first job ever, and what did it teach you that you still use in your legal career today?
I spent many high school summers working for a friend’s father who was a homebuilder. That job, which involved building houses from the ground up, taught me the importance of planning, ensuring things are done right the first time, and that there is no substitute for hard work…especially when you are framing a house under the hot summer sun!

Outside of the legal world, what is one skill or talent you possess that might surprise your colleagues?
I am a multi-instrumentalist who can play piano, guitar, bass, ukulele, and saxophone!


Entourage Effect and Shield Compliance Join the ICLC

In a continuation of its recent growth, only a bit more than a year after its organization, the ICLC is pleased to announce the addition of 3 more new participants. One of these is a commercial bank. In accordance with our commitment to our bank participants, they are not identified outside the Community unless they specifically authorize it. The other 2, Entourage Effect Capital (EEC) and Shield Compliance, are each well known within the cannabis industry and will enhance the ICLC’s potential value to its participants, enriching the spectrum of relevant and accretive cannabis industry experience, skillsets and perspectives available to them.

Trulieve Tax Announcement and the ICLC Growth Spurt

On March 12, leading cannabis tax lawyer James Mann made an extremely timely virtual presentation to ICLC participants regarding the announcement by Trulieve of its receipt of more than $100 million of tax refunds in connection with a challenge to what it owes under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code.

Another Big Move Out of the Shadows; First Citizens Bank, the nation’s 19th largest, poised to enter the Cannabis Market

A commentary on cannabis and hemp dated January 12, 2024 posted by First Citizens Bank on its website reflects the decision by the Bank to extend its very substantial hemp/CBD platform into the cannabis space.

A Closer Look at Cannabis

At the Nov. 30 Akron Roundtable event "A Closer Look at Cannabis," moderated by Andrew Meyer, deputy editor of news Ideastream Public Media, a varied group of panelists spoke about expected and potential outcomes and efforts of marijuana legalization.

Out of the Shadows - Cannabis Going Mainstream

BMD Phoenix Office Managing Partner, Stephen Lenn, recently discussed today's cannabis industry at an Akron Roundtable as part of their "Bringing it Home" series.