Member Spotlight with Shay Aaron Gilmore
ACBA member Shay Aaron Gilmore, the Law Office of Shay Aaron Gilmore, advises and counsels exclusively cannabis investors and operators in corporate, commercial, and regulatory matters, focusing on entity formation and financing, mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, commercial transactions, local permitting, state licensing, and compliance issues across the cannabis supply chain. Shay has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer in Cannabis Law and in Business & Corporate Law by Super Lawyers® Magazine, and Shay has served as a Commissioner on the State Bar of California’s Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission. Shay holds a B.A. in Economics from Rice University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Shay currently serves as Chair of the ACBA Cannabis & Hemp Law Section.
If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what would you be doing instead?
I would most likely have become a journalist. I enjoy investigative reporting as a consumer of it, and if I were not practicing law, then I would be pursuing a career as an investigative journalist.
What is the biggest challenge facing you as a lawyer today?
The biggest challenge facing me as a lawyer today is expanding access to cannabis through the end of federal cannabis prohibition because I have devoted my law practice to the cannabis industry and movement.
What is your favorite part of being a lawyer?
My favorite part of being a lawyer is the feeling I get when I see my clients succeed.
What are you reading now?
Successful Aging, by Daniel J. Levitin (a neuroscientist looking at brain development, decision making, and longevity).
What person, living or dead, real or fictional, would you like to have dinner with?
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi for the feast of first-person stories of his lifetime of creating change.
Why do you choose to be a member of the ACBA? What is the greatest benefit you have enjoyed as a member?
I choose to be an ACBA member because I care about my clients in Alameda County, and because I want to contribute to the development of my professional colleagues as legal practitioners in Alameda County and throughout California. As a member of ACBA, practicing law in Alameda County, the greatest benefit I have enjoyed is the experience of forming a professional community of lawyers from diverse backgrounds and interests coming together to promote excellence and seek justice.
To learn more about joining the Alameda County Bar Association, please visit: Why You Should Join the ACBA.