Licensed to practice law in California and Colorado, Courtney Barnes is a Founding Partner at Barnes Caplan LLP, a boutique law and policy firm based in Denver, Colorado, and serves as Counsel at Feldman Legal Advisors PLLC, a cannabis and psychedelics business law firm located in New York State. Ms. Barnes specializes in advising clients on regulatory compliance, risk management, and strategic operational matters relating to the production and distribution of hemp, cannabis, and other natural products in emerging industries. In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Barnes is a passionate psychedelics and criminal justice policy reform advocate who has vast experience drafting and helping to implement state and local policy change relating to the regulation of cannabis and the decriminalization of psychedelics. Most notably, she assisted with the drafting of Denver’s cannabis social use ordinance in 2016, Denver’s psilocybin decriminalization initiative in 2018, Texas House Bill 1325, establishing a state commercial hemp program, in 2019, as well as California Senate Bill 519 and Michigan House Bill 631 in 2021. Both bills would decriminalize non-commercial activities involving psychedelics. Ms. Barnes also serves as State Policy Advisor for Decriminalize Nature, General Counsel of the Society for Psychedelic Outreach, Reform, and Education (SPORE), and is an Advisory Board Member of Heroic Hearts Project, Inc.