James Silva

James Silva grew up in New York's Hudson Valley at the height of "Just Say No" propaganda and Rockefeller Drug Laws fueling the prison-industrial complex. A cancer diagnosis in his second year at Pepperdine University School of Law, as Los Angeles erupted after the Rodney King verdict, reshaped his view: cannabis was medicine; prohibition, a tool of racial oppression. He is a cancer survivor and five-time marathoner. Over three decades of legal practice, Mr. Silva defended medical cannabis patients and entrepreneurs in 30+ California counties after Proposition 215. As an Oaksterdam University professor, he taught federal, state and local cannabis law (criminal, business, zoning and advocacy) and served as a subject matter expert for Los Angeles's first cannabis Social Equity Program. As both an attorney and a Licensed Real Estate Broker for over 13 years, he guided social equity entrepreneurs and investors through rapidly evolving cannabis laws to secure compliant property from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. Based in Southern California, he runs an independent legal practice and brokerage serving Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and chairs Kind Works EDU's Real Estate Committee.