Mitch Blackstone

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Mitch Blackstone

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Mitch Blackstone is a third-year law student at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Mitch grew up in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia and graduated from Cornell University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Labor Relations and a minor in Business. Mitch also played for their varsity baseball team and was a member of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity.

During law school, Mitch interned at Hoban Law Group, a private mid-size law firm in Denver that specializes in servicing cannabis businesses on an international scale. Mitch has also interned in-house under the general counsel of LivWell Enlightened Health, one of the largest medical and recreational cannabis companies in Colorado.

Mitch currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Denver Law Review; Outreach Editor for the Student International Cannabis Bar Association; and is active in the Business Law Society and Venture Law Society. Mitch’s legal areas of interest include corporate, transactional, and cannabis law. Outside of law school, Mitch enjoys playing and watching sports as well as weightlifting, martial arts, and hiking.

Connect with Mitch on LinkedIn.

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The ViacomCBS Merger and Its Place in the Big Media Space

After a three-year campaign by Shari Redstone, Chairwoman of the two companies and daughter of media mogul and billionaire Sumner Redstone, Viacom and CBS merged to become ViacomCBS, Inc. on December 4, 2019 in an all-stock transaction worth nearly $12 billion. (Meg James, Los Angeles Times). The newly merged company was listed on the Nasdaq on December 5, 2019 under the tickers “VIACA” as the Class A stock and “VIAC” as the Class B stock. (Staff, Business Wire). CBS and Viacom are two mass media companies that create and distribute content across a variety of platforms in almost every field of media and entertainment. Id. In previous years, the two companies have merged twice with their most recent merge occurring in 1999, lasting until 2006 where Sumner Redstone split the merged entity. (Jonathan Barr, Forbes). This history makes the two media giants no strangers to federal regulatory authorities, and the merger follows the lead of other major players in the entertainment industry (“Big Media”).

Updates on Federal Marijuana Legalization: The Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act and its Implications

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1595 – Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 (“SAFE Act”) on September 25, 2019, in a historic step toward federal marijuana legalization.  (Jeff Smith, Marijuana Business Daily).  Introduced by Representative Ed Perlmutter (D-Co.), the SAFE Act, which required a two-thirds majority in the House, passed with a vote of 321-103 in a rare showing of bipartisan support.  Id.  Under current federal money laundering statutes, any financial firm that provides services to a cannabis company, regardless of its operation in a legal state, faces heavy financial penalties.  (Lane and Gangitano, The Hill).  However, under the SAFE Act, financial institutions and insurance companies could provide commercial banking services to state-legal cannabis companies without fear of federal penalty.  (Staff, Marijuana Business Daily).