Overview
Kiliaen Strong’s practice focuses on the diverse but interrelated areas of cannabis, life sciences, healthcare regulatory compliance, privacy and technology, and nonprofit law.
Kiliaen has been heavily involved in New Jersey’s cannabis industry since the first medical dispensaries opened in the state. He has hands-on experience with the industry’s unique aspects, including general operations, contract negotiations, regulatory compliance, real estate, labor, and marketing. He has represented cultivators, dispensaries, manufacturers, wholesalers, CBD start-ups and retailers, and research and policy organizations. He has guided clients through interactions with regulators and local government; day to day operations, contract negotiations with landlords, vendors and wholesalers; litigation and enforcement actions, license applications, approvals of manufacturers/processors and their products, marketing and advertising, license sales and transfer, and labor and employment issues.
Kiliaen’s regulatory and compliance practice within the life sciences and organ, tissue, and whole-body donation fields include navigating clients through state licensure and professional accreditation, litigation and discovery, HIPAA and other regulatory compliance, general corporate law, contract negotiations, managing responses to data-breaches, handling novel international law issues, procurement, and nonprofit governance. Kiliaen has worked with tissue banks, eye banks, non-transplant anatomical banks, donor registries, medical education and research entities, and organ procurement organizations.
Prior to joining the firm, Kiliaen was in-house counsel for one of New Jersey’s largest newspaper publishers, where he coordinated all state and federal public records requests and related litigation.
In law school, Kiliaen worked in the Rutgers Law School Constitutional Rights Clinic, where he was involved in public interest impact litigation and reporting about voting rights, voting machine hacking, and open government. Additionally, he worked with the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s Re-Entry Legal Services Clinic in Newark, aiding formerly incarcerated individuals restore their driver’s licenses. Kiliaen completed a Judicial Externship, clerking for the Honorable Fred H. Kumpf of the Somerset County Superior Court, in the Civil and Special Civil divisions.
Representative Experience
- Outside General Counsel to two of the original six vertically integrated Alternate Treatment Center’s first licensed to grow, manufacture, and sell medicinal cannabis in New Jersey.
- Represented vertically integrated ATC in successful sale and transfer of its license.
- Represented vertically integrated ATCs in state and municipal license applications and proceedings to successfully open numerous satellite dispensaries and additional manufacturing and cultivation sites.
- Worked alongside a variety of stakeholders to secure telemedicine access for medical marijuana patients during COVID-19 pandemic.
- Successfully resolved customs issue involving international shipment of anatomical specimens for non-transplant anatomical bank.
- Submitted amicus brief in South Carolina Court of Appeals case concerning Organ Procurement Organizations’ peer review privileges.
- Coordinated New Jersey newspaper publisher’s public records requests and related litigation concerning reporting on “Bridgegate” scandal, as well as numerous incidents of police use of force.
- Managed responses to multi-state and international data breaches for life science clients.
- Successfully protected clients’ trade secrets and proprietary financial information included in proposals to New York and New Jersey RFP’s that were subjected to public records requests.
Speeches & Presentations
- “Marijuana and the August 21 Deadline: What New Jersey Mayor’s Need to Know”, June 29, 2021, Cannabis Education and Research Institute, presenter.
- “HIPAA For Intensive Family Support”, January 21, 2021, Intensive Family Support Services of Somerset County, presenter.
- “The Perfect Storm: Voting in New Jersey in the Wake of Superstorm Sandy,” Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic, 2014, report co-author.
Professional & Community Activities
- Member, New Jersey State Bar Association
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, New York City Bar Association
- Member, New York State Bar Association
Representative Experience
- Outside General Counsel to two of the original six vertically integrated Alternate Treatment Center’s first licensed to grow, manufacture, and sell medicinal cannabis in New Jersey.
- Represented vertically integrated ATC in successful sale and transfer of its license.
- Represented vertically integrated ATCs in state and municipal license applications and proceedings to successfully open numerous satellite dispensaries and additional manufacturing and cultivation sites.
- Worked alongside a variety of stakeholders to secure telemedicine access for medical marijuana patients during COVID-19 pandemic.
- Successfully resolved customs issue involving international shipment of anatomical specimens for non-transplant anatomical bank.
- Submitted amicus brief in South Carolina Court of Appeals case concerning Organ Procurement Organizations’ peer review privileges.
- Coordinated New Jersey newspaper publisher’s public records requests and related litigation concerning reporting on “Bridgegate” scandal, as well as numerous incidents of police use of force.
- Managed responses to multi-state and international data breaches for life science clients.
- Successfully protected clients’ trade secrets and proprietary financial information included in proposals to New York and New Jersey RFP’s that were subjected to public records requests.