PRACTICE FOCUS
Jonathan Wachs provides strategic counseling and operational advice to clients in the areas of intellectual property, commercial transactions, corporate governance and the legal cannabis industry. As a member of the firm's Intellectual Property Group, Jon works closely with clients to develop, register, analyze, enforce, and transfer intellectual property assets. Additionally, he conducts intellectual property audits through which clients learn the nature and value of their intellectual property assets and the steps needed to protect such assets from misappropriation or dilution.
As founder of the firm’s Cannabis Law group, Jon is a recognized resource on issues relating to the evolving relationship between cannabis law and intellectual property protection. He has worked with many operators in the cannabis industry to navigate the rules and processes relating to specific state medical cannabis programs. Jon provided essential legal support to obtain required Maryland regulatory approval for the transfer of several licenses affected by a multi-billion dollar business combination. He also facilitated a series of business transactions involving the sale, purchase and combination of integrated cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensary businesses.
As a business lawyer, Jon successfully negotiated and completed many seven and eight figure business transactions and has served as general counsel to several small and mid-sized businesses in various industries and professions. He manages New Paradigm Counsel, a service through which Offit Kurman delivers customized, comprehensive and cost-effective outsourced legal departments. Through New Paradigm Counsel, Jon served as outsourced general counsel for a government contractor, a large printing business, a payment processing company and an identity theft restoration business.
"My clients inspire me to work hard. I cherish the trust they place in my efforts and I know they are counting on me for timely, practical and cost-effective guidance. I am motivated by the examples they set on issues such as team building, risk taking, perseverance and dedication to excellence."
POINTS OF DISTINCTION
Jon has developed and managed numerous intellectual property portfolios, expeditiously and successfully resolved business disputes, and negotiated hundreds of business agreements. He has structured, negotiated, and documented transactions regarding the formation, restructuring, sale, and termination of small, mid-sized, and large business entities and the acquisition, financing and transfer of business assets. He has served as counsel to various and diverse clients including cannabis industry businesses (cultivators, processors, dispensaries and independent testing laboratories), software developers, manufacturers, suppliers, real estate developers and medical practices. He has also drafted numerous agreements to license, sell, and/or pledge intellectual property assets in industries including software development, entertainment, textiles food products and alcoholic beverages. Jon represented several manufacturers in obtaining substantial trademark and copyright infringement settlements from national and international businesses.
ACTIVITIES
Jon is the past president of the Board of Directors of Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland Inc. He is a Mentor for the Towson University Incubator and an evaluator for the Maryland Industrial Partnership Program. He was previously actively involved in the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Interview Program. Jon also previously served for many years as a director of and associate general counsel for the Jewish Federation of Reading, Pennsylvania and as a member of the board of directors of the Institute of the Arts in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
SPEECHES
Jon delivered several seminars to clients, accountants, medical professionals, and the general public regarding subjects including the fundamentals of intellectual property and legal issues for startup businesses. He frequently writes on intellectual property news and issues.
RECOGNITIONS
- Martindale-Hubbell's AV Preeminent® Top Rated Lawyers
- Named as one of SmartCEO’s 2010 “Legal Elite” for Baltimore and Washington, as one of the “go-to attorneys” in the areas of intellectual property law and business transactions, based on a poll of the magazine’s readers.
- Named as a 2015 and 2016 winner of a SmartCEO Center of Influence Award, dedicated to “honoring the leadership, innovation, impact, and success of the Baltimore region’s most enterprising accountants, attorneys and bankers.”
- Mr. Wachs’ work in creating Offit Kurman’s Cannabis Law Practice earned Offit Kurman a 2016 Innovator of the Year Award from The Maryland Daily Record, which award is dedicated to honoring businesses and organizations that “have created new products, services or programs that have had a positive effect on business, industry or the community."
PREVIOUS WORK
Prior to joining Offit Kurman as an intellectual property attorney, Jon worked as an antitrust lawyer at large law firms in Washington, D.C. and as a transactional business attorney in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
