BEST OF THE INDUSTRY 2019: Chip Sheppard & CECB

Over 1,000 Greenway readers made nominations online for the Best of the Industry 2019. This inaugural reader’s choice presentation is unique – the 2020’s is sure to look a little different.

Find features about the winners of categories in the Businesses & Professionals section in Greenway Magazine and online. For the CBD, Patient Care, and Advocacy sections, check out the categorical winners in the Spring 2020 issue of Greenway Patients Magazine and online.

Winners of these reader’s choice awards were recognized at the MoCannBizCon after party on March 2, 2020, at the incredible St. Louis Union Station.

These winners are definitive leaders in the culmination of this industry. Greenway Media congratulates each awardee on being recognized by their peers.

Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell, and Brown’s medical marijuana division is led by Chip Sheppard (pictured, featured). Sheppard has been a business lawyer since 1983, handling negotiations and drafting of all types of agreements including buy/sell; non competes, loan documents, real estate documents, employment agreements, master service agreements, consulting agreements, etc., as well as business and securities litigation and arbitration. His practice changed slightly in 2016 as Show Me Cannabis looped him in and got him hooked on being an advocate through his profession. (Read more about Sheppard’s journey into the industry in the June/July 2019 issue of Greenway Magazine.)

CECB, located in Springfield, was voted by Greenway readers as the best business law firm in Southwest Missouri. Their role in the industry has been pivotal through 2019, from steering applications to lending support for cannabis-related non-profits. Greenway chatted with Sheppard about his motivations and the firm’s industry involvement.

Sheppard has been against cannabis prohibition since high school, one of several reasons he supports the medical marijuana industry. He’s practiced law for 37 years – split between Springfield and Dallas, Texas. He has a passion for marijuana as medicine, saying he “loves the hugs from patients that are sick of being sick and sick of being treated like criminals; and after helping with the drafting of the Amendment, and the campaign, it seemed a waste to walk away.”

Sheppard said others may be surprised at how proud he is of the work they did with New Approach to win against two other ballot initiatives, attributing guidance to Jack Cardetti and John Payne. “How humbling it has been to watch the incredible team effort we have at MoCannTrade trying to make this Missouri the standard-bearer for MMJ regulations and legislation,” Sheppard said.

CECB is a full-service firm for business people. Sheppard is joined at the firm by Jay Preston and David Olive. Sheppard himself focuses on medical marijuana regulatory/compliance, transactions, real estate, LLC formation, employment, banking, and licensing.

“In this MMJ industry, my accounting (B.S.) and finance (12 hours) education are probably fairly unique,” Sheppard said. “I do not see too many attorneys with that background in this industry, coupled with the business-focused practice for 37 years, and my 4 holes in one.”