Matt Kumin

Matt began his law practice in 1995, having spent the previous nine years consulting with worker-owned businesses.  His law practice integrated his passion for civil rights and his support for entrepreneurs; he spent time not only suing police and sheriff’s departments throughout the state for violating citizens’ constitutional rights, but also counseled entrepreneurs about business and corporate law.

Years before ever becoming an attorney, as far back as when he was an undergraduate student at Brown University, Matt had worked with cooperatives. So, once the policy and plain language of California SB 420 was passed in 2003, he began helping his clients form patients’ cooperatives.  At this point, the number of cannabis operations exploded and Matt found himself well-positioned as the “go to” guy for medical cannabis legal issues.  Matt's past experiences - business consulting, cooperatives, and state and federal civil rights law - created a nexus of skills which helped Matt offer broad-based legal counsel to the burgeoning medical cannabis community.

Since then, he has litigated the only United States Tax Court case addressing the income taxation of medical cannabis operations (CHAMP v. Com’r. of the Internal Revenue Service , 128 T.C. No. 14 (May 2007, Laro, J.).  He has also set up scores of cooperatives throughout the state of California while counseling clients in states throughout the West including Colorado and New Mexico.  Additionally, he has brought numerous civil rights actions against various cities and counties in California alleging that bans on cooperatives violate patients’ rights.  He also speaks on panels nationally both to the general public and to attorneys regarding cannabis law, sustainable operations and best business practices.

A Team Approach

Matt Kumin regularly collaborates with fellow attorneys who are licensed to practice in other states or who bring complementary skills and expertise into the fold. As a member of the the NORML Legal Committee, he frequently attends and participates in national and regional conferences, symposia and continuing education.