Benjamin L. Rackliffe is a Partner with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O'Gara LLC and a member of the firm's Corporate & Business and Nonprofit Organizations Teams. He is considered a leading authority in the areas of corporate and regulatory compliance, providing counsel in a wide range of areas to closely held business and tax-exempt organizations.
Building upon years of traditional corporate transactional experience, Attorney Rackliffe is at the forefront of advising businesses on the ever-evolving state and federal cannabis law and policy landscape in both medical and recreational markets throughout New England and elsewhere. Within the State of Rhode Island alone, Attorney Rackliffe has advised approximately two dozen licensed cultivation companies through real estate, licensing, regulatory compliance and investment related matters. Outside of Rhode Island, he routinely advises dispensary and cultivation operators, both publicly traded and private, including the owner of the largest outdoor cannabis cultivation on the east coast. In addition, he advises investors on risk mitigation measures within the cannabis space. His experience also includes representing clients in the nation’s burgeoning hemp industry.
Attorney Rackliffe also has experience in the construction and engineering industries and in commercial real estate development, having previously served as assistant general counsel to a hospitality and real estate development corporation and as an attorney for a Rhode Island-based construction and engineering litigation firm representing multinational and U.S. contractor corporations. Attorney Rackliffe now uses this experience in advising developers, financing parties and institutional clients alike participating in solar renewable energy projects.
He earned his J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Providence College, where he continues to act as a Special Lecturer for an undergraduate business course entitled, “Legal Environment of Business.” He is admitted to practice law in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, and is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association, the Connecticut Bar Association, the New York Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
