Senior Counsel, Legal Operations & Compliance

Minnesota-Cannabis-Services; Edina (MN); On-site; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Minnesota Cannabis Services is seeking a Senior Counsel to lead legal operations and compliance in Edina, MN. The role blends cannabis regulatory work with commercial contracts, leases, and license management, reporting to an executive team.

You’ll mentor two paralegals and drive a scalable legal function in a fast-growing industry. The position requires a Minnesota bar admission, 5+ years of regulated-industry legal experience, and a passion for AI-enabled legal practice.

Qualifications

• JD and active Minnesota bar membership.
• 5+ years of legal experience; regulated-industry exposure (cannabis, alcohol, or tobacco) strongly preferred.
• Commercial contracts and/or real estate experience preferred; multi unit retail or franchise agreements experience a plus.
• Meticulous, organized, autonomous, and genuinely enthusiastic about AI in legal practice.

Responsibilities

• Own the master renewal calendar: entity renewals, state and local license renewals, and applications — inventoried, deadlined, executed, never late.
• Review and abstract commercial leases, maintain the lease database, and support subleasing and landlord communications.
• Build and maintain audit-ready compliance records; support regulatory filings, disclosures, and exam response.
• Draft, review, and manage contracts, corporate documents, and entity records; help elevate paralegal work with a mentoring mindset.
• Support the insurance program: certificate tracking, renewals, COI requirements.
• Practice at the frontier: we use AI legal tools daily for drafting, review, and research — with privilege rigorously protected — and we'll invest in keeping you at the cutting edge.

Skills

Detail-oriented

Mentoring

AI in legal practice

In-person teamwork

Education

JD

Minnesota bar membership

Job description

Senior Counsel, Legal Operations & Compliance

Edina, MN

At Minnesota Cannabis Services, we’re not just building businesses — we’re building the people who make them great. Our team partners with leading operators across cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail to deliver world-class expertise in legal, finance, analytics, marketing, HR, and technology.

We’re looking for professionals who take pride in their work, move with purpose, and thrive in fast-changing environments. The kind of people who hold themselves to high standards, think creatively, and find satisfaction in solving hard problems.

When you join our team, you’ll work alongside some of the most experienced leaders in the industry — professionals who share their knowledge freely and lead by example. You’ll be challenged, supported, and trusted to take ownership of meaningful work that shapes the future of one of the fastest-growing industries in America.

The Opportunity

We're hiring a Minnesota-barred attorney to be the senior hands-on lawyer inside our legal operations and compliance function. If you love the craft of legal work — getting it exactly right, at volume, on time — this seat delivers more real ownership and more interesting variety than most attorneys see in a decade: cannabis regulatory work, commercial leases, entity and license management, compliance infrastructure, and daily collaboration with an executive team that moves fast.

You'll join a small, established legal team, working alongside two paralegals whose work you'll help mentor and elevate, with meaningful room to grow as the function scales.

What You’ll Do

• Own the master renewal calendar: entity renewals, state and local license renewals, and applications — inventoried, deadlined, executed, never late.
• Review and abstract commercial leases, maintain the lease database, and support subleasing and landlord communications.
• Build and maintain audit-ready compliance records; support regulatory filings, disclosures, and exam response.
• Draft, review, and manage contracts, corporate documents, and entity records; help elevate paralegal work with a mentoring mindset.
• Support the insurance program: certificate tracking, renewals, COI requirements.
• Practice at the frontier: we use AI legal tools daily for drafting, review, and research — with privilege rigorously protected — and we'll invest in keeping you at the cutting edge.

Who Thrives Here

Detail-obsessed attorneys who take real pride in execution and want their work to matter visibly. We're an in-person team by design — on-site in Edina, five days a week — because that's how mentorship and momentum actually happen. Comfort working in a bipartisan, politically diverse environment is part of the culture: we speak purple and work both sides of the aisle in this industry on purpose.

What We Offer

$175,000–$200,000 plus benefits. Modern tools, direct executive access, no bureaucracy, and a growth path as the legal function scales with the company.

Qualifications

• JD and active Minnesota bar membership (or imminent admission).
• 5+ years of legal experience; regulated-industry exposure (cannabis, alcohol, or tobacco) strongly preferred.
• Commercial contracts and/or real estate experience preferred; multi unit retail or franchise agreements experience a plus.
• Meticulous, organized, autonomous, and genuinely enthusiastic about AI in legal practice.

At Minnesota Cannabis Services, we believe great teams are built on trust, initiative, and follow-through. We invest deeply in our people — providing mentorship, on-the-job training, and opportunities for advancement across multiple sectors of the cannabis industry.

Here, you’ll be part of a high-performing culture that values precision, reliability, and continuous improvement. Every project is a chance to grow your skills, strengthen your leadership, and contribute to something that matters.

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