Robert W. Selna

Robert W. Selna

Robert W. Selna launched Selna Partners LLP with his brother Steven M. Selna in 2020 to focus on cannabis law, real estate transactions and litigation. The East Bay Express newspaper named the firm “Best Cannabis Attorneys” in 2021.

“We like working together due to our ability to streamline things and manage our firm the way we want without being burdened by bureaucracy and a lot of meetings,” Robert Selna said. “We’re a two-man operation that’s now needing to expand.”

Earlier, Robert Selna had chaired the cannabis industry practice group at Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP. “I started their cannabis practice post-Prop. 64, having been hired as a real estate and land use person,” he said. “It turned out there was a burgeoning opportunity in cannabis. You need real estate for growing and manufacturing marijuana, and the licensing is tied to that, so it’s a natural evolution in legal practice.”

Before that, he’d been a chief legislative aide for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle and The Daily Journal.

Current clients include Nug Republic, CCStack.io and CCSAC Inc. For cannabis cultivator CCSAC and its distribution arm, Cann Distributors Inc., Selna and his brother are suing a cannabis banking firm for allegedly withholding as much as $8 million in funds in violation of a capital management agreement. CCSAC Inc. v. Pacific Banking Corp., 3:20- cv-02102 (N.D. Cal., filed March 26, 2020).

The Selnas’ complaint alleges breach of contract, fraud and negligence. It seeks injunctive and declaratory relief.

The litigation illustrates the challenges facing many in the cannabis industry who are denied services by traditional financial institutions licensed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. due to cannabis’ continued illegal status under federal law.

“My client couldn’t get conventional banking services, and Pacific Banking purports to service the cannabis community by handling payroll and paying vendors and taxes,” Selna said. “These are typical business account outlays. But they went south on us and stopped performing.” Pacific Banking failed to pay $2.3 million in California taxes on behalf of the client, Selna said. An additional $1.7 million in unpaid vendor bills is also part of the litigation. “They claimed they made the payments, but now we’re facing a lot of penalties, assessments and the possible loss of licenses.”

“A remedy that could make sense here is restitution,” Selna said. “PBC has admitted it has our clients’ money. Our goal is to get it back. Beyond that, our client now has found a credit union to perform its banking and is doing fine.”

Selna enjoys working at the intersection of the new frontier of cannabis law and the routine areas of contracts and real estate. “I’m grateful for how interesting it is to be participating in a historically new area of law.”

– John Roemer