Press Release

Boston, MA, November 4, 2019 – Burns & Levinson partner Frank A. Segall, who chairs the firm’s Business Law and Finance Groups and co-chairs the firm’s Cannabis Business & Law Advisory Group, has been named a “New England Trailblazer” by Am Law. Segall was recognized for creating one of the first national cannabis business law practice groups in Boston to help cannabis businesses, entrepreneurs and investors navigate the complex legal and business framework that surrounds the rapidly growing cannabis industry in the United States.

Segall was recognized for his pioneering work with multiple banks to establish a framework in which banks can accept cannabis-derived deposits. His client, GFA Federal Credit Union (GFA) in Gardner, Massachusetts, become the first financial institution in Massachusetts to offer banking services to adult-use marijuana clients. Segall is also working with regulated and non-regulated financial institutions and private funds to set up first-of-their-kind cannabis lending programs. GFA launched a pilot lending program in July 2019, which is a planned first step toward making direct loans to cannabis businesses.

With Segall leading the charge, Burns & Levinson became the first major Boston corporate law firm and one of the first national law firms to develop a cannabis business law and advisory practice six years ago, and is considered among the top law firms in the country with expertise handling high-level corporate and financing deals in the private and public markets in the cannabis market. The firm has unrivaled experience in cannabis regulatory matters, business formation and corporate structuring, private placements, venture capital, M&A, cannabis and hemp/CBD business matters, banking issues; fund formation, debt and equity financing; real estate acquisitions and leasing; labor and employment issues; intellectual property protection; 280E taxation issues; and cannabis litigation.

Segall received his J.D. from Columbia University in 1984 and his B.A., cum laude, from Brandeis University in 1981. Segall was as recognized as one of the inaugural “Cannabis Trailblazers” by the National Law Journal in 2018, and has repeatedly been acknowledged as a Super Lawyer by his peers.