Jen Randolph Reise is an attorney and entrepreneur. As the Head of Business and Cannabis Law at North Star Law Group, she advises business owners on formation, capital raising, and other corporate issues, especially (but not exclusively) in the legal cannabis industry. She is passionate about helping founders manage risk proactively and maintain control while raising the capital they need.
After graduating law school summa cum laude in 2007, she was in private practice at a large Minneapolis firm for six years and spent four years in-house as securities and corporate governance counsel at a public company. She then served as a Visiting Professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law for three years, where she taught doctrinal business law courses with an emphasis on transactional law and business skills.
Jen is also an entrepreneur. She launched Sandwich Smarter, which empowers Americans caught in the “caregiving sandwich” raising their teenagers and caring for aging parents with DIY legal forms, resources and community. At North Star, she is building on that experience to create efficient, consumer-facing solutions for business owners and entrepreneurs.
Licenses and Bar Admissions
- Minnesota (2007)
Education
- B.A., St. Olaf College
- J.D., Hamline University School of Law (2007), summa cum laude
- Mini-MBA for Lawyers, by Association of Corporate Counsel and Boston University (2017)
Representative transactions:
- Advised on fundraising alternatives and structured founder loan
- Represented buyer in sale of staffing company
- Negotiated minority investment in cannabis company
- Drafted service contracts, distribution agreement, license agreements
- Structured securities offering to outside investors
- Formed LLC and led founders through preparation of operating agreement
- Advised public company seller in go-private sale to private equity
Presentations / Publications
- A New Leaf: Cannabis Legalization in Minnesota. Minnesota State Law Library was the host. November 2023. Presented together on the criminal, expungement, and business law aspects relating to the recent change in Minnesota law legalizing cannabis.
- Navigating Minnesota’s New Cannabis Laws” Twin Cities Startup Week, September 2023
- A New Leaf: Cannabis Legalization in Minnesota, for Hennepin County Law Library (live, August 2023)
- Raising Capital, for cannabis entrepreneurs (live, June 2023)
- Raising Capital, for MNSBIR (live via Zoom, April 2023)
- Early Stage Investment Instruments, for the University of Minnesota Venture Center (live via Zoom, Jan. 2023) (available at https://mediaspace.umn.edu/media/t/1_9zfsbkwc)
- Securities Filings and Blue Sky, at the Minnesota Paralegal Association Annual Convention (live via Zoom, Oct. 2021)
- Moving Ahead: Finding Opportunities for Transactional Training in Remote Legal Education, 47 Mitchell Hamline L. Rev., 51 (2021)
- Walmart’s Form 10-K, for Law Insider’s Contract Teardown Series (August 2021) (available at https://www.lawinsider.com/resources/contract-teardown/walmarts-form-10k-with-jen-reise)
- When to Engage Counsel: Legal To-Dos for Entrepreneurs, for Launch Minnesota (an initiative of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) (live via Zoom, May 2021)
- Preparing for M&A Exits, for the University of Minnesota Venture Center (live via Zoom, April 2021)
- Nuts and Bolts of the Corporate Secretarial Function, at the MSBA Corporate Counsel Institute, Minneapolis, MN (live, February 2020)
Awards
- Recent Alumni Award, Mitchell Hamline School of Law (2015)
- Member, International Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA)
- Member, Minnesota Women Lawyers
- Member, Minnesota State Bar Association
- Member, MN is Ready Coalition
- Finance Committee Member, Dress for Success Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN (2018-present)
- Board Member and Secretary, Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs, Bloomington, MN (2017-2022)
- President, Society for Corporate Governance (Twin Cities Chapter) (May 2017-June 2019; chapter officer since June 2014)