Overview

Michelle Bodian is a senior associate attorney in Vicente Sederberg’s New York office, where she is a leading member of the firm’s Hemp and Cannabinoids Department and co-chair of the Grants and Loans Practice Group. She primarily advises hemp and CBD clients on how to navigate through the complex and interconnected federal, state, and local regulatory frameworks.

Before joining Vicente Sederberg, Michelle served as the land use counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, where she gained valuable agricultural knowledge and insight and experience drafting, reviewing, and awarding government grants and contracts. While with the Department, Michelle drafted and proposed amendments, and commented on laws, regulations, and policies. Michelle has extensive administrative agency experience and offers clients firsthand knowledge on how administrative agencies truly operate. Michelle also worked as an associate at a civil litigation and transactional law firm in Milford, Connecticut. While there, she focused on environmental, land use, and real estate law and environmental and civil litigation.

With her skill in agricultural and environmental impact best practices, along with her knowledge of state, territory, and international hemp and CBD laws—plus, over a decade of legal experience in both the government and private sectors—Michelle is a valuable resource for her clients.

A member of the American Herbal Products Cannabis Committee, Michelle has spoken at many cannabis industry events and has authored several articles on hemp- and CBD-related topics.

She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law with an Environmental Law, Science, and Policy Certificate and received her Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University. During law school, Michelle served as a legal intern for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the Environmental Protection Division and was a certified legal intern with the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s Environmental Law Clinic.

Experience

Leadership & Community Involvement

• Member, Cannabis Committee, American Herbal Products Association

Publications

VS Insights

• Co-author, "Lessons Learned from Recent Hemp and CBD Litigation: They Went to Court so You Can Stay Home," July 13, 2020

• Author, "Protecting Your CBD Business from Product Liability Lawsuits," March 9, 2020

• Co-author, "New Jersey's Hemp Program Opens the Door to Applicants," February 6, 2020

• Co-author, "New Law Regulates Hemp and Hemp Extracts in New York," December 19, 2020

• Co-author, "Hemp M&A Transactions: Diving into the Transferability of USDA-Issued Licenses," November 15, 209

• Co-author, "USDA Hemp Regulations: What Was Expected, Unexpected and Unanswered," October 30, 2019

• Co-author, "Key Takeaways from the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing on Hemp Production and the 2018 Farm Bill," August 23, 2019

• Co-author, "Reflections on the 2018 Farm Bill," July 17, 2019

Events

• Speaker, Cannabis Business Minds, "The Legalities of CBD,” Online, July 22, 2020
• Speaker, CWCB Expo, "Know Before You Grow: Federal & State Laws for Selling Hemp & CBD Products ,” Paramus, October 24, 2019
• Speaker, INCBA Cannabis Law Institute 2019, "Farm Bill Update and Overview ,” New York , October 03, 2019
• Speaker, NECANN Springfield Cannabis Convention, "Hemp & CBD Law Update,” Springfield, June 22, 2019