Hiller PC fires back at cannabis lawyer Lauren Rudick

The battle between legal firm Hiller PC and its former cannabis attorney Lauren Rudick is heating up.

In response to a lawsuit filed by Rudick in December 2023, Hiller alleges that Rudick breached her contract and owes the firm money.

Initial case

The initial filing alleged that managing principal Michael Hiller made Rudick a nonequity partner in recognition of her quickly growing cannabis clientele, Green Market Report reported at the time. This promotion came with a $235,000 salary and a 50% profit share agreement.

Then in 2021, Hiller informed Rudick that her salary was shrinking to $165,000 but that she’d be compensated 25% of the firm’s gross revenue, which he said would work out to between $303,000 and $500,000 a year based on how the firm’s cannabis wing performed.

But, Rudick said, she later found out that the updated profit-sharing agreement excluded several significant revenue streams, which she never agreed to.

Hiller’s response

Hiller PC and Michael Hiller asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that Rudick is at fault, not the other way around. The firm said that Rudick knew it was going to file claims against her and tried to preempt the effort by filing her case.

Hiller claims in its court filing that, “Rudick stole from HPC by accepting payments from clients personally for work performed by HPC rather than having those clients pay HPC.”

It claims that Rudick received 300,000 company shares from HillviewMed Inc. instead of a payment that should have gone to HPC. Hiller claims the shares belong to HPC, not Rudick.

Hiller also alleges that Rudick used legal language from HPC to establish her contracts at her new firm, Rudick Law Group PLLC. Hiller also alleges that Rudick spent the last six weeks of employment at Hiller preparing to open her new firm.

The complaint also claims that “Rudick transferred HPC’s entire cannabis law practice to her new firm, leaving HPC with significant losses and uncollectable receivables.”

Rudick stands firm

Rudick’s lawyer, Rick Ostrove of Leeds Brown Law PC, said, “Hiller is trying to smear my client’s name in an effort to scare her into settlement. He knows that once he is forced to disclose his firm’s financial records, we will have indisputable proof that he grossly underpaid Lauren, taking advantage of a young female associate as part of a greedy money grab.”

Concerning behaving improperly, Ostrove said, “As to Hiller’s claims that my client engaged in impropriety, the document he used to prove that has been in his possession since 2019. He never reported the alleged misconduct to the (New York State) Bar, nor has he ever previously advanced these claims anywhere. The first time it has come up is in response to Rudick’s lawsuit. His contention is nonsense as there’s nothing unethical about taking equity in a company as a form of compensation and Hiller was well aware of exactly what was happening as proved by his possession of the document he provided.”

Rudick’s lawyer also pointed out that the unpaid wages claim was so strong that Hiller didn’t even move to dismiss those claims, which are the heart of the complaint.