Sarah Westby is a partner at Shipman & Goodwin LLP in the firm’s Labor, Employment and Education Practice Group and chairs its Cannabis Practice. She represents clients in the health care, education and consumer packaged goods sectors on employment and personnel matters, including discrimination complaints, leaves of absence and accommodations, termination and severance, and workplace safety.
Her work includes litigation, counseling and conducting workplace investigations for state agencies and corporations. She also advises cannabis businesses on formation, licensing, regulatory compliance and social equity partnerships.
What have been your biggest professional accomplishments so far?
I created a brand-new practice area at Shipman & Goodwin in cannabis law, shortly after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. I have established and grown the practice from a concept to one of the premier cannabis practices in the state of Connecticut.
Outside of my legal practice, I serve on the board of directors for Simply Smiles Inc., a not-for-profit organization that builds villages of foster homes in Native communities. Through this role and a pro bono partnership with Shipman, I created an employment structure to professionalize the organization’s foster parenting program for a new village on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, where Simply Smiles built a first-of-its-kind intentional community of foster families for Native children.
This work involved crafting complex, unique job descriptions, employment agreements and housing agreements to address the specific needs of Native foster children and the demands of living on the Reservation, in compliance with state, federal and tribal law.
What’s the next big goal you want to accomplish professionally?
I would like to expand our cannabis practice to serve more businesses in surrounding states, such as New York and Massachusetts, particularly in litigation and dispute resolution. I hope to leverage my background in complex and class action litigation as well as Shipman’s deep bench of talented litigators and appellate attorneys to expand commercial opportunities and pursue legalization efforts for licensed cannabis businesses.
What’s one of the biggest professional challenges you’ve overcome?
Creating a niche practice area in cannabis that was brand new to the firm as an associate. There were a few established firms in the state that had worked with medical marijuana companies for several years.
Building a successful practice in a heavily regulated market with a steep learning curve and seasoned competitors was daunting. I had to create a brand leveraging the firm’s depth of practices and my fresh perspective, engage in creative marketing, and become an expert in the ever-changing laws and regulations in order to sustain and grow the practice.
How are you involved in the community?
It is important to note Shipman’s commitment to pro bono work and close partnerships with community organizations including Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lawyers for Children America and Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence.