Lecturer Bios
Pamela N. Epstein, Esq.
Prior to her current position with one of the State's pioneering operators Eden Enterprises, Inc., Pamela was the Founder of Green Wise Companies - Green Wise Legal & Green Wise Consulting, California's premiere full-service cannabis consulting company and law firm, providing a range of legal, consulting, business development and application permitting services to every facet of the cannabis industry.
Pamela's diverse background, inclusive of legal, land use, and environmental work, placed her in a unique position to lead and advise her clients and the cannabis community in general.
Pamela has become known as a fearless advocate for local cannabis businesses along the supply chain guiding them through the ever-changing legal and regulatory landscape. Recognized as an expert in her field, Pamela serves as a featured speaker, providing energetic and compelling commentary focused on topics such as land use and zoning, regulatory compliance and environmental issues. Pamela's mission is to advance the importance of supply chain agreements. Pamela is a trusted resource for local governments looking to effectively regulate
cannabis within their jurisdictions and has served as the Special City Attorney for the City of Hollister regarding their Commercial Cannabis Ordinance. Along with providing her clients with exceptional service she is proud to serve as a freshman Board-member of the California Cannabis Industry Association ("CCIA") and a Co-Chair of the Retail and Distribution Committee, a member of the Appellation Rights Subcommittee of the International Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA), a Board-member of the California Hemp Council ("CHC") and Advisory Board Member for Annabis a cannabis fashion company.
Gina Austin, Esq.
Gina is the supervising attorney and founder of Austin Legal Group. Her practice areas include land use entitlements, corporate and securities transactions, and cannabis related legal issues and compliance.
Prior to practicing law, Gina was an executive with over 20 years experience building successful businesses through strategy development, funding roadmaps and operations in start-up and rapid growth companies.
In June of 2009 she was recruited by California Vision, Inc. due to her legal expertise in land use and environmental regulatory issues, broad business success, and significant start-up operations expertise. Prior to joining California Vision, Gina spent six years in the legal profession representing private citizens, businesses, military and government entities on land use, zoning and planning, litigation, environmental regulation and permitting as a private attorney and at the specialty law firm Worely Schwartz Garfield and Prairie. As an attorney, Gina’s clients have included several large materials construction companies with revenues in excess of $3 billion, master planned communities with 1,500 to 3,000 private homes, and private industry.
Gina has been at the forefront of the California cannabis industry for the last 8 years. Over the years, Gina has become a well known cannabis attorney, having developed this expertise by working with state and local jurisdictions to develop regulatory structures for medicinal and adult use cannabis, processing jurisdiction specific land use entitlements to operate cannabis businesses, consulting on cannabis compliance, and participating in cannabis related litigation. Gina has been responsible for licensing many San Diego retail dispensaries and production facilities. Gina also maintains clients all over California as well as Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Oregon and Nevada. Gina has grown with the cannabis industry and has worked on many sophisticated corporate transactions, advising clients on M&A deals, partnership disputes, and issues involving regulatory violations. Her legal knowledge of business and regulatory issues confronting the cannabis industry is complemented by years of experience in land use, securities transactions and corporate transactions. With the rapidly expanding cannabis industry, Gina devotes most of her practice consulting with local and state regulators on lawmaking, and keeping cannabis businesses open and compliant.
Laura Del-Castillo, Esq.
Laura del-Castillo serves as Associate General Counsel with the Bay Area-based cannabis and hemp company Eden Enterprises. Laura joined Eden after working as a cannabis attorney since 2018 with Green Wise Legal. Prior to venturing into the cannabis industry, Laura primarily worked on environmental and land use law issues, working for a non-profit and then a plaintiff-side law firm. Laura graduated from Golden Gate Law in San Francisco in 2012 and now lives and works in Oakland.
