Rosman Strategic Advisory bridge mark ROSMAN STRATEGIC ADVISORY
BEN ROSMAN, J.D. · PORTLAND · DETROIT

I sat in both seats.

Portrait of Ben Rosman

I'm a lawyer who spent a decade not simply practicing law. I was also building and running a company, and serving as its lawyer. Founder and counsel. Operator and regulated. Same desk, same day.

That's the part most advisors can't offer. I know what the executive on the other end of the call is feeling, because I've been that person, usually with a regulator on line two.

The short long version.

  1. 2013
    Licensed in Michigan.After years as a law clerk in criminal defense. Then practice: criminal, business, and a little of everything else.
  2. 2014
    Co-founded PSI Labs.On paper, anyway. A cannabis testing laboratory, built for an industry that didn't legally exist yet.
  3. 2015
    PSI Labs opens its doors.Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  4. 2017
    Bigger building, same legal gray zone.Growth and the prospect of legalization moved us to a larger Ann Arbor facility. The city permitted us. The state law still had no such thing as a legal testing lab.
  5. 2018
    One of Michigan's first licensed labs.Among the first in the state licensed to test medical cannabis.
  6. 2019
    The first. Full stop.PSI Labs becomes the first lab in Michigan licensed to test recreational cannabis.
  7. 2021
    West Coast expansion.PSI acquires pH Solutions, a cannabis testing lab in Monrovia, California. Sold back to its owner in 2024.
  8. 2024
    Closed the lab.Ten years in an industry that didn't always want honest testing. I learned as much from the ending as from everything before it.
  9. 2026
    Licensed in Oregon. Rosman Strategic Advisory.Portland and Detroit. Everything above, now on your side of the table.

Through all of it I was co-founder, CEO, and in-house counsel. I wrote model rules before the law existed, pushed back in writing when the final rules got it wrong, sat on state cannabis workgroups, and handled the capital, contracts, and investigations that come with running a regulated company.

Things I used to believe, marked up.

The regulators are the enemy. Regulators are people with a rulebook and a deadline. Learn both.

The lawyer will catch it. The lawyer catches what you think to show them.

We'll clean it up after launch. After launch is where the cleanup costs ten times more.

A handshake is enough with people you trust. Put it in writing precisely because you trust them. Keep it that way.

How I work.

Small roster. A handful of ongoing clients, at most. You get me, not a junior associate.
Straight answers. If it's a bad idea, I'll say so. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say that too, and point you to someone who is.
Clear lines. Advisory work is business consulting. Legal work is a separate engagement, in Oregon and Michigan. You'll always know which one you're buying.
Priced for judgment. Fixed fees and flat retainers, published up front. No law-firm overhead baked in.
OFF THE CLOCK

Most days begin and end with a walk and a long look at the sky. Pogo handles security. She's got a great nose for stormy weather on the horizon and has no opinion on contracts.

Pogo, a black dog with big ears, looking over a wall at a desert storm with a rainbow on the horizon

Enough about me. What's on your horizon?

Book a free 15-minute call →