Resources

Client Alerts, News Articles, Blog Posts, & Multimedia

Everything you need to know about BMD and the industry.

Get to Know BMD: Jeff Joseph Jr.

Blog Post
December 13, 2024

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!

Attorney SpotlightJeff Joseph Jr.
Blog Post

Non-compete Agreements are Under Fire: What Employers Need to Know

August 4, 2022Non-compete agreements are an ongoing topic of dispute. Employers and their advocates point to the efficacy of non-competes in protecting proprietary information. Employees and their advocates argue about worker mobility and that employers unduly burden workers’ ability to seek better jobs. The Biden administration has put forth its position, and state legislatures have introduced bills addressing the enforceability of non-competes. Here is what you need to know:Blog Post

BMD’s Jason Butterworth Quietly Engineers Some of Akron’s Most Impactful Projects

May 18, 2022Jason Butterworth, a team member of BMD’s Business & Corporate practice, focuses his practice on finance, real estate, and tax credit law.Client Alert, Blog Post

Explosive Growth in Pot of Gold Opportunity for Bank (and Other) Cannabis Lenders Driving Erosion of the Barriers

May 13, 2022Our original article on bank lending to the cannabis industry anticipated that the convergence of interest between banks and the cannabis industry would draw more and larger banks to the industry. Banks were awash in liquidity with limited deployment options, while bankable cannabis businesses had rapidly growing needs for more and lower cost credit. Since then, the pot of gold opportunity for banks to lend into the cannabis industry has grown exponentially due to a combination of market constraints on equity causing a dramatic shift to debt and the ever-increasing capital needs of one of the country’s fastest growing industries. At the same time, hurdles to entry of new banks are being systematically cleared as the yellow brick road to the cannabis industry’s access to the financial markets is being paved, brick by brick, by the progressively increasing number and size of banks that are now entering the market.Blog Post

Celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May 1, 2022In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI Heritage Month), Brennan Manna and Diamond is proud to recognize the contributions and achievements of our AAPI members.Blog Post

Fluresh Cannabis’ Bank Loan: Moving Into the Mainstream

April 18, 2022The announcement by Fluresh, a vertically integrated Michigan based cannabis business, of the closing of loans from a federally insured commercial bank totaling almost $50 million represents an important landmark for both Fluresh and the cannabis industry writ large. For Fluresh, perhaps as important as the bottom-line benefits of lower cost financing, the fact that its operations and financials passed muster with a substantial commercial bank can be regarded as an important rite of passage. For the industry, it reflects its inexorable movement out of the shadows and into the mainstream. This substantiates the view that, whether or not any of pending the federal legislation is enacted, bank lending to the cannabis industry will continue to accelerate.
Older posts
Newer posts