When Judith Cassel teaches a college class on cannabis law, she doesn’t use a textbook. She waits until two months before her classes at Widener University’s Commonwealth Law School and Penn State Dickinson Law begin to review the most recent cases in cannabis law—a field, she says, that is constantly evolving.

Cassel ’86 Com, ’08 JD Law is the founder of Cannabis Law Solutions in Harrisburg. She helps cannabis growers, processors, and dispensaries, as well as labs and health care companies in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and other states navigate regulatory processes and litigations. A recipient of the 2023 Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Medical Marijuana and Hemp Advocate Award, she has won major court cases against regulatory agencies, including an injunction against the Department of Health’s recall of over 330,000 medical marijuana products in 2022. She has also argued cases in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court on cannabis issues.

“It’s rare that lawyers get to sink their teeth into a new area of law,” Cassel says. “Cannabis law is very new and changing.”
After a long career in corporate law, Cassel set up her cannabis practice in 2016, the year medical marijuana was legalized in Pennsylvania. She first approached her partners at law firm Hawke McKeon & Sniscak about establishing the niche cannabis practice, but some were initially concerned about the stigma cannabis might create for the firm. Cassel set up a separate practice area with its own logo, clients, lawyers, and website. Other clients’ rejection of cannabis law never materialized, but the Cannabis Law Solutions practice area remains separate from the main law firm.

Cassel was a five-time record holder and All-American in track and field while at Penn State. She received an MBA from Lebanon Valley College and her law degree from Penn State Dickinson Law. —Cristina Rouvalis