Flipping the script: Cannabis lawyer turns Cannabis entrepreneur
From Lawyer to Cannabis Entrepreneur: Blake Mensing's Career Shift in Massachusetts.
When Massachusetts voters passed a ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana in 2016, it opened the door for Blake M. Mensing to establish what would turn out to be a booming legal practice advising clients in the cannabis industry.
Ironically, that seismic shift would also lead to the 40-year-old Holliston attorney deciding to leave the practice of law entirely.
“When Question 4 passed in 2016, my first thought was, ‘Boy, I don’t like being a lawyer. Maybe I’ll try to get into the cannabis business,’” he explains.
For six years, Mensing had worked tirelessly to make his firm a flagship in the state for representing clients in the burgeoning cannabis industry. To that end, the firm obtained more than 100 licenses from the Cannabis Control Commission on behalf of clients.
But last year Mensing decided to sell his interest in The Mensing Group to another cannabis law firm, Cable, Fleisher & Sosebee in Northampton.
Today, Mensing is “all in” working to forge a new career as a cannabis entrepreneur.
His first foray into the business was Holyoke Cannabis, a retail store of which he was a minority owner for several years before he was bought out in January.
Now, Mensing has started his own cultivation and manufacturing business, Coyote Cannabis Corp. in Uxbridge, with his brother George, who has a background in the pharmaceutical/drug development/biotech realm.
“We’re looking at a May opening,” Mensing says. “Like many attorneys, I’m not a spreadsheets guy. [George is] the numbers brain.”
Coyote Cannabis is Mensing’s answer to what he sees as a fundamental problem in the state’s cannabis market.
“The dominant players in [the Massachusetts cannabis industry] came from the medical side — those having the big money before adult use [became legal],” he says. “I’m not against making money, but if you aspire to be the Bud Light of weed, you’re really missing the point.”
Mensing says he’s put together a strong management team that operates the business in a completely different lane than that of the big players.
“We don’t have corporate overlords to report to,” he says. “We’re just trying to do quality above all else. I don’t want my name on something that’s not good that I wouldn’t consume.”
Also on his plate is the planned opening of two cannabis retail stores, one of which will be across from Boston’s South Station. The store has the financial backing of four social equity owners who will be actively involved in the management of the business.
What prompted the career switch? Mensing says he realized after 14 years that he didn’t really like being a lawyer.
“I’m the rare duck who loved law school, yet being a lawyer was very little what law school made it seem like it would be,” says Mensing, whose first job as an attorney was doing transactional real estate work for a firm that had a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.
When voters legalized marijuana, Mensing was practicing municipal law. Since he was already well-versed in licensing and zoning, it was a natural fit that his practice would encompass representing cannabis businesses seeking to navigate local regulations in setting up shop.
But even as he was representing cannabis businesses as a municipal lawyer, there was an idea percolating in the back of his mind — one that involved opening his own cannabis store.
“There were certain things that lined up for me really well in terms of the cannabis business,” he says. “The truth is, while I’ve been a lawyer for nearly 14 years, I’ve been a stoner for 26.”
Mensing makes no bones about the fact that he’s had a fondness for marijuana since an early age.
“I’ve always been very hard-working and would only consume cannabis when my day’s tasks were done,” Mensing says. “In fact, [in my cannabis legal practice,] I brought that fact up to municipalities who were afraid of hordes of hippies descending on their communities. I emphasized, ‘Hey, this is what a stoner looks like. You can be hard-working and successful and consume cannabis in moderation in the same way that people might have a glass of scotch or two at night.’”
While Mensing says he was ready to “not be a lawyer” years ago, he quickly learned that 1) he didn’t have the bank account to make it happen, and 2) he was “completely green on the business side.”
“I didn’t know anything about fundraising or the heavy lift that comes from having to wear many hats in the startup environment,” he admits.
While currently running his new businesses, Mensing is still in the process of winding down his legal practice, handling holdover matters for soon-to-be former clients in an of counsel position at Cable, Fleisher & Sosebee.
Meanwhile, there are absolutely no regrets about leaving the practice of law.
“[Running a cannabis business] is significantly harder work,” he says. “It takes a lot more effort. But at least I get the benefit of my efforts. Instead of making someone else’s dream come true and someone else determining my worth, I get to determine my own worth. That’s very satisfying.”
