Empowering Both Company and Customers:
Meet the Caliper Ingredients Legal Team
With more and more states enacting cannabis-friendly legislation, and an ever-growing list of companies working with cannabinoids, “the industry has become increasingly and incredibly more sophisticated,” says Rob Simmons, Director of Legal at Caliper Ingredients. “Yet there are still companies out there that might think CBD industry deals are still done by handshake.” With those “wild west” days long gone (if they ever truly existed), he adds, “it’s especially important for customers to have counsel available, to protect themselves and get the very best deals they can.”
Deals aren’t done by handshake in this industry…it’s especially important for customers to have counsel available, to protect themselves and get the very best deals they can. ”
Guiding customers and coworkers through the complexities of those legal processes is Caliper’s in-house legal team, headed by Rob—a seasoned General Counsel who’s worked with several Fortune 500 companies including DaVita and Molson Coors. Also on the team are Operations Administrator Patrick Mullarkey, whose experience includes case management at business and legal dispute resolution company JAMS, and Legal Intern Cameron Rasco, who’s in his final year of law school at University of Colorado, Boulder and specializing in regulatory compliance, transactional law, and business law in general.
Caliper’s legal team isn’t just unusual for a company of our size, says Rob. “It’s on par with what’s taking place at much larger companies. Every in-house legal department faces challenges, but I think Caliper is meeting them as well as the bigger guys do—and sometimes better.”
“With our expertise and resources we can provide information to our customers and prospective customers at a much faster clip than other companies can,” he explains. “For example, if prospective customers are asking about regulations in a particular state, we can’t give legal advice or tell them what to do—but we can at least arm them with the information so that they can make their own informed decisions.”
“With our expertise and resources we can provide information to our customers and prospective customers at a much faster clip than other companies can. ”
Having a legal team is an essential piece of a process-focused company like Caliper, Rob notes. “We’re a well-organized, finely tuned machine, and that ensures we can scale up and grow in a thoughtful way, and not catch ourselves flatfooted because we didn’t anticipate something. Part of that is making sure our processes are well organized and streamlined.” There’s an emphasis on standard operating procedures (SOPs) at all levels, from manufacturing to sourcing ingredients to marketing operations.
That same operational rigor applies to all the complex legal processes the team is involved with—whether it’s managing contracts with vendors and customers, signing party agreements, or providing documentation for various certifications. Patrick’s work focuses on systematizing them all, from the ground up. Recently, he led a company-wide training on submitting legal requests from the team, to ensure everyone at the company was on the same page. “We get so many documents on a daily basis, it’s important that we have a process for review and approval, making sure we’re clear on how they will impact us and our customers.”
Systematizing our legal documentation review and approval process ensures we’re clear on how it will impact us and our customers.”
The CBD industry itself poses unique legal challenges, too, “because there’s not much guidance at the federal level,” says Cameron. “Each state has its own regulatory framework, and they seem to be changing by the week. Keeping track of all 50 states’ changes has definitely kept us busy.”
“It’s really important not only to keep track of current regulations, but to keep track of proposed regulations, and proposed legislation that’s not currently law,” he adds. “By doing that you can get a bigger picture of the direction the law is going in.”
It’s important not only to keep track of current regulations, but to keep track of proposed regulations…you can get a bigger picture of the direction the law is going in.”
The team also keeps its eye on federal action on CBD, and the ever-present possibility that the FDA will take action on regulating CBD. To keep abreast of Congressional moves, the legal team works actively with Kevin Joseph, a government affairs specialist based in Washington DC (also featured in our March issue).
Is federal action forthcoming? “We don’t have a crystal ball,” Rob admits. “We can wait for both houses of Congress to act with respect to the FDA and CBD, but there’s one person who could change everything overnight: Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.” Appointed recently by President Biden, Secretary Becerra—former Congressman and Attorney General of California—“has the power to extend the oversight of the FDA to CBD, with the stroke of a pen,” says Rob.
If that happens, the team is ready to make things happen quickly, he adds. “Caliper’s approach is to be anticipatory. We’re already regulation-ready, and we want our customers to be too.”
We’re already regulation-ready, and we want our customers to be too.”
The bottom line? The legal team’s work is “all about empowerment,” says Rob. “It’s not about saying no to things or just ‘staying out of trouble.’ It’s about working with our Caliper Ingredients Team to be creative, to maximize opportunities for us and our customers. We believe in growing this industry with our customer partners—and the better they do, the better we all do. We’re all in this together!”
