Ali is a seasoned legal and business professional with deep expertise in labor and employment law, particularly as it intersects with the unique challenges of the cannabis industry. With a career spanning over two decades, Ali has guided businesses through a variety of legal, regulatory, and operational challenges. Her areas of focus include labor and employment, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and commercial contracts, with a keen understanding of the evolution of the national and international cannabis landscape.
While Ali is a key member of Benesch's Cannabis Practice Group, she also brings significant experience working with startups and tech companies across various industries. Her tenure at Groupon, starting shortly after its public listing, provided her with invaluable insights into the legal and operational needs of high-growth tech companies. This experience, combined with her comprehensive legal background, enables Ali to effectively assist clients both within and outside the cannabis industry.
Prior to joining Benesch as Of Counsel, Ali ran a law practice called Jubelirer & Eastman, where she and her partner provided legal services to clients primarily in the tech, hospitality, and cannabis sectors. From 2022 to March 2024, Ali also ran Dynamic Jack, a licensed cannabis cultivation and manufacturing company; and most recently, she founded Dynamic Jane to develop products in the hemp-infused category, with a focus on infused beverages. Before these ventures, Ali served as General Counsel to Revolution Cannabis Co., a multi-state cannabis operator based in Chicago. She also founded CannaMatch, a company with the mission of connecting new (at the time) Illinois social equity cannabis licensees to trusted service providers. Ali enjoys writing and has been a member of the Rolling Stone Culture Council for several years, publishing articles about the cannabis industry from the perspective of an operator. At the same time, you can find articles Ali has written from a legal perspective on Benesch’s website, including deep dives into what to expect in 2024 in the cannabis industry, and the likely path of cannabis rescheduling under the Controlled Substances Act.
Ali's career prior to the cannabis industry includes nearly eight years at Groupon in various roles, culminating as VP & Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer in 2019, where she oversaw the U.S and international employment and labor needs of the company, its global ethics and compliance program, and its immigration function. She also spent six years at Tribune Company as employment in-house counsel and five years at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, focusing or traditional labor and employment litigation. Ali holds a B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University Honors Program and a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She is a certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP) and holds a Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) certification. In addition to writing articles about her experiences as a cannabis operator and her legal interpretation of both new and shifting laws, Ali is a sought-after speaker on panels discussing legal developments impacting cannabis (including hemp); entrepreneurship; and her experience as a woman in the industry.