Lara DeCaro

Personal Introduction

Lara L. DeCaro prides herself on helping people and businesses solve problems in a creative, affordable way. Lara is a full-service business counselor and third-party neutral with almost 25 years of experience in the areas of corporate governance, regulatory compliance, employment, intellectual property and brand protection, commercial transactions, and real property, and as a neutral in alternative dispute resolution. Her deep understanding of business and focus on innovative, forward movement make her an excellent problem-solver. She is the partner in charge of both the Cannabis Law Group and the Trademark Group, and she co-founded the LPS Diversity Committee. She is licensed to practice law in California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Her first year out of law school, a brief she authored was submitted to the Supreme Court of Colorado and made law in her client’s favor. She also successfully defended cannabis and other criminal charges there. Lara later took a position as in-house counsel for a premier risk evaluation software company and worked at a leading bio-pharmaceutical company in South San Francisco. Both positions served as important career mechanisms that further developed her regulatory compliance skills, intellectual property knowledge, business sense, and transactional experience. Lara graduated with honors from both the University of Southern California, where she received a double Bachelor of Science, and Tulane Law School, where she received a certificate in mediation from the American Arbitration Association on top of her Juris Doctor. She was also a member of the New Mexico Senate Memorial 57 Advisory Council and the New Mexico State Bar Association ADR Committee, which authored the rules in New Mexico for alternative and effective dispute resolution. From the start, most of Lara’s clients came from highly-regulated industries, and she translated that knowledge into a comprehensive cannabis business practice before it was hip—over 13 years ago. Her clients range from OG mom and pops to large scale, publicly traded MSOs. Regardless of industry or size, Lara is fortunate to like the people whom she also calls clients, which include cannabis companies, alcohol brands, event venues, entertainment providers, art galleries, authors, banks, recycling companies, investors, franchisors, and even an airport.