Moderator and Faculty Biographies
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Moderator and Faculty Biographies Adam Buck, partner with Radix Law, is a Certified Real Estate Specialist with nearly two decades of transactional and litigation experience in Arizona and Nevada. As a partner with Radix Law, Adam focuses on real estate, business law, commercial litigation and estate planning. In his practice, he advises, negotiates and drafts operating agreements, asset purchase agreements, commercial real estate purchase and sale agreements, commercial loan documents, commercial leases and loan workouts, deed restrictions and public reports. He advises clients regarding environmental issues and other transaction due diligence, and conducts survey and title review. He is experienced in zoning and code violation matters. Adam has extensive experience in all phases of commercial litigation in federal and state courts, including depositions, motion practice, jury selection and trial. He has successfully conducted numerous jury trials and bench trials as lead counsel. His litigation experience includes partnership disputes, quiet title actions, tax lien foreclosures, boundary disputes, deed restriction disputes, real estate broker negligence, construction defects, and fraud and misrepresentation claims. Also represents clients in administrative hearings with the Registrar of Contractors and the Arizona Department of Real Estate. In addition Adam helps his clients plan for the future and protects their assets through estate planning. He counsels clients on their estate planning needs, prepares trusts, wills and other estate documents, handles probate matters and conducts trust and estate administrations. Adam is a valued speaker throughout the Phoenix area on real estate and estate planning topics. Adam writes articles on legal subject for several publications and is also frequently interviewed by local media. In addition, he was named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona in 2018 by AZ Business Magazine. Ryan Hurley I General Counsel at Copperstate Farms Prior to joining Copperstate Farms, an Arizona medical marijuana cultivator, Ryan was a partner at Rose Law Group in Scottsdale, Arizona where he led the firm's Marijuana Practice Group. Ryan assisted clients with all aspects of Arizona's medical marijuana law, primarily focusing on helping clients work with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS). He also had significant input on the rules that the ADHS developed for Arizona's medical marijuana program, and was the attorney for the 3 Arizona Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, a committee to legalize marijuana for adult-use in Arizona in 2016. Ryan is a frequent presenter at marijuana seminars and conferences throughout the country and is a tireless advocate for marijuana reform in myriad interviews and appearances on TV print and radio. He is also one of the founding members of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). With a strong interest in industrial hemp, Ryan has been working behind the scenes with Arizona farmers to bring industrial hemp as an alternative crop to Arizona's large cotton industry. Stephen A. Lenn has over 40 years of legal, commercial and investment banking experience in connection with capital formation for start-ups and emerging and middle market businesses, including private placements of securities, as well as in corporate merger and acquisition transactions. His experience also includes debt finance transactions, loan workouts and other resolutions of distressed businesses and real estate transactions. Over the past two years Mr. Lenn has brought to the cannabis industry the skill sets as a corporate, merger/acquisition and finance attorney that he developed over the course of many years representing both Fortune 1000 and entrepreneurial clients across the business spectrum. During that period, Mr. Lenn has been involved in representations in pending and closed cannabis acquisition and financing transactions in multiple states involving more than $1 billion. Mr. Lenn is the former general counsel of a diversified bank holding company and has served as special counsel to federal and state banking regulatory authorities. He holds several Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (FINRA) securities licenses and, for more than 12 years, was the principal of a boutique investment banking firm. 4 John T. Lotardo, aka the "TITLEMAN"™, is Senior Vice President and National Commercial Counsel for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company. He is the former State Counsel and Senior Underwriter for First American Title Insurance Company for the states of Arizona and Nevada. Previously, Mr. Lotardo was Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Stewart Title & Trust of Phoenix Inc., as well as state underwriting and claims counsel for Stewart Title Guaranty Company. As a licensed attorney, Mr. Lotardo's practice entails all aspects of real estate, title/escrow and corporate operations. Mr. Lotardo received his Bachelor of Arts with honors and academic distinction from C.W. Post, Long Island University and his Juris Doctorate degree from Arizona State University. Mr. Lotardo, an active member of the State Bar of Arizona, is a frequent speaker, instructor, retained expert and guest commentator including a past presenter for the Arizona State Escrow Association, as well as both the Nevada Escrow Association and the Southern Nevada Escrow Association. Being a past-President of the Land Title Association of Arizona and the Arizona Trustee Association, he has been a member of many real estate organizations, settlement groups, bankruptcy, lending, foreclosure, legislative, judiciary and corporate organizations locally and nationwide. He is a 2016 inaugural recipient of the Arizona Land Title Professional designation and has recently completed his tenure on the Arizona Association of Realtors' Residential Contract Workgroup and the Education Advisory Committee for the Arizona Department of Real Estate. Mr. Lotardo is author of numerous articles including the popular "Ask the TITLEMAN"™, which is in print throughout the United States and can be found on his website www.askthetitleman.com as well as other sites. He has been an active volunteer for Lawyers On Call, a public service partnership with Channel 12 News as well appearing on Channel 3's news show Money Matters. Being a guest commentator for many publications including the Arizona Republic, InBusiness Magazine, The New Times, among others, Mr. Lotardo has also appeared on Talk Radio for KFNX 1100, KFNN 1510 as well as Java with John. He had been the Editor for the Real Property Journal for the State Bar of Arizona for a number of years, is past-Chair for the Arts and Culture Commission for the City of Phoenix, past-participant for the State Bar's Speakers Bureau, Mentor for the Women Law Students' Association, and the Arizona Business Roundtable, an alliance organization between the business community and the Judiciary. Former Governor Napolitano appointed him to the Electronic Recording Commission to develop statewide protocols. He has been selected as a "Who's Who" in the legal community as part of The Business Journal's Leading Lawyers Program. Arizona Department of Real Estate then-Commissioner Wercinski invited him to participate in a 3-month long work group to evaluate ADRE legislative changes. He's been accepted into the Strathmore' s Who's Who, as well as being made part of the Cambridge Who's Who online Registry demonstrating 5 leadership and achievement in the field of real estate. Most recently, he has accepted the role as Secretary and Executive Council Member of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of Arizona as well as being appointed Chair of the Real Estate Advisory Board for the Maricopa County Recorder. Timothy McCulloch, partner at Dickinson Wright, focuses his practice in business and commercial litigation with particular emphasis on the aviation industry. He represents numerous commercial aircraft operators, flight schools, fixed-based operators and airport sponsors. Mr. McCulloch represents banking institutions seeking to judicially or non• judicially foreclose upon aircraft loans. He has defended aircraft operators, fixed-based operators and airport sponsors against negligence claims, and has first-hand experience with airport land use, Part 16 complaints, permitting, noise, hangar condominium development, environmental, and grant assurance compliance issues. Mr. McCulloch has substantial experience with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). He has negotiated Letters of Agreement (LOA) for near airport operations and consulted with UAV and UAS operators in obtaining Section 333 waivers, COA's, and SAC's as well as FAA regulatory compliance. Mr. McCulloch has negotiated through-the-fence agreements on behalf of both airports and developers. He has litigated disputes between competing fixed-based operators spurred by allegations of procurement code and federal grant assurance violations, and has advocated for aircraft owners in disputes with aircraft manufacturers and aircraft management companies. Mr. McCulloch also represents commercial aviation interests and is experienced in corporate aircraft ownership, flight-time sharing and shared-ownership structures, as well as aircraft management and leasing structures. Additionally, he has experience handling collections for a national bank, a large equipment manufacturer, and various commercial entities. Prior to joining Dickinson Wright PLLC in April of 2017, Mr. McCulloch was a co-managing partner of the Phoenix