Biography

Barton Morris is the principal attorney and founder of the Cannabis Legal Group, specializing in all marijuana related legal issues including criminal defense, business law, licensing, consulting, land use and real property. Barton is well known as one of the top cannabis law lawyers in Michigan having developed this expertise since 2008 with the enactment of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. He is a council member of the Marijuana Law Section of the Michigan Bar Association and chair of its science committee. One of the ways Barton has developed his marijuana law specialty is through the training he received becoming the only attorney in Michigan certified by the American Chemical Society as a Forensic Lawyer-Scientist maintaining a focus on marijuana related science. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer’s College and sits on its Alumni Board of Directors. Barton maintains board positions with the DUI Defense Lawyers Association and the Michigan Association of OWI attorneys. He also is on the faculty of both of those organizations regularly providing presentations and teaching lawyers from all over the country. Barton has been recognized professionally with several awards including being rated 10/10 by AVVO, and a Super Lawyer Magazine outstanding attorney in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Dbusiness Magazine also named Barton Morris a Top Attorney in Metro Detroit in 2012 and 2013 and named the Cannabis Legal Group the “Face of Cannabis Law” for 2016 and 2017. On behalf of the State Bar of Michigan Marijuana Law Section he has presented public policy section positions before the Michigan legislature. He has also written journal articles in the Marijuana Law Section Journal. Attorney Morris has also enjoyed a very successful and distinguished career as a criminal defense trial lawyer and cannabis business specialist.  He is known for his trial preparation and expert knowledge in marijuana related science by industry attorneys, judges and prosecutors.

Barton Morris is also a very experienced federal criminal defense attorney having practiced extensively in both the Eastern and Western Federal Districts of Michigan. He has successfully litigated federal criminal cases in the areas of health care and medicare fraud, mortgage fraud, drug trafficking prosecutions involving heroin, cocaine, marijuana, prescription pills, and ecstasy. He has also tried cases involving RICO conspiracies, murder of a federal witness, production, possession and distribution of child pornography, marijuana trafficking and money laundering. Barton has the experience and skill to win any complex criminal prosecution in any court.

In October of 2014 Barton Morris was the first, and presently only, attorney in Michigan to earn the American Chemical Society designation Forensic Lawyer-Scientist due to the completion of several intensive courses in forensic chromatography comprising of over 160 hours of education and lab and passing a very difficult comprehensive examination. Barton Morris is one of only 44 attorneys in the nation to have earned this distinction.

Accomplishments

• Graduate Western Michigan University, Haworth College of Business, Bachelor in Business Administration, May 1994
• Graduate Michigan State University College of Law, May 1998
• Graduate NCDD Summer Session, Harvard Law School, July 2013
• Trial Lawyer’s College Alumni F Warrior Board Member, Region 7 2013-2016
• Graduate Trial Lawyers College, Dubois, Wyoming, September 2011
• State Bar of Michigan Marijuana Law Section Board Member 2016-2020, and Chair of the Science Committee
• Michigan Association of OWI Attorneys, Faculty, Board Member 2014-present
• DUI Defense Lawyers Association, Charter Member, Faculty, Foundation Trustee 2015-present
• National College for DUI Defense, Member, Faculty 2012-present
• Graduate of the National Criminal Defense College, Macon, Georgia, June 1999
• Graduate of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, Criminal Defense College, August 2010
• Clerk for the Honorable David F. Breck, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge 1995-1998
• Featured on Let It Rip, WJBK – My Fox Detroit, August 2011
• Selected Super Lawyer 2014, 2015 & 2016
• Rated 10/10 by Avvo Legal
• Selected a Top Lawyer of 2012, 2013 and 2014 by DBusiness Magazine
• Selected the “Face of Cannabis Law” 2016 by DBusiness Magazine
• Also heard on 89X, 101 WRIF, 97.1 The Ticket, Fox 2 Let it Rip

Certificates of Completion

• Drug Recognition Evaluation (DRE) Practitioner Course – two times
• Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) Practitioner Course – two times
• DMT Datamaster Evidential Breath Testing Operator Training Course
• BAC Datamaster Evidential Breath Testing Operator Training Course

Memberships

• State Bar of Michigan, admitted November 6, 1998
• Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan
• Oakland County Bar Association
• Federal Bar Association, Eastern District of Michigan Chapter
• Criminal Practice Committee, Federal Bar Association Eastern District of Michigan
• National College of DUI Attorneys, General Member, Faculty
• Michigan Association of OWI Attorneys, Inaugural and Board Member
• Trustee, DUI Defense Lawyers Justice Foundation
• Charter Member and Faculty, DUI Defense Lawyers Association
• American Chemical Society, Chemistry and Law Division
• American Academy of Forensic Scientists
• State Bar of Michigan, Marijuana Law Section
• Lifetime Member of NORML Legal Committee

Speaking/Lecture Presentations

• How to Obtain a Michigan Medical Marijuana Business License, December 2016, October 2016, February 2017, June 2017
• National Business Institute – Marijuana Law In Michigan, November 2016
• State Bar of Michigan, Marijuana Law Section Annual Seminar – Myths of Marijuana Science, October 2016
• Michigan Association of OWI Attorneys, Spring Conference – Forensic Blood Testing for Controlled Substances, April 2016
• DUI Defense Lawyers of Michigan, Winter Conference, Santa Monica California, Winning DUI Strategies – February 2015

Licensed to practice law in

• State of Michigan
• United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan
• Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals