Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, today announces that partner Eric P. Berlin has been chosen by Law360 as a 2020 MVP of the Year in the Cannabis category. Resident in the Chicago office, Berlin is a member of Dentons’ Health Care practice and helps lead the global Cannabis group.

The MVP of the Year recognizes lawyers who have succeeded in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals. Berlin was one of few chosen from a pool of more than 900 applicants.

As one of the nation’s leading authorities on cannabis law, Berlin advocates full-time for clients in, or impacted by, state-legal cannabis industries and helps navigate tensions with federal law. With more than two decades of courtroom and jury-trial experience in high-stakes matters, Berlin has represented large, publicly traded companies that sell products or services to the cannabis industry, companies involved in financing the industry, vaporizer manufacturers, testing labs, cultivators, processors and dispensary operators.

At the state level, Berlin has worked with members of the Illinois and Ohio legislatures to draft and get passed bills creating medical marijuana dispensaries. He has additionally represented non–cannabis industry clients in high-profile health care and antitrust litigations, including a trial in a US$2.3 billion Sherman Act and Robinson-Patman Act case; a False Claims Act case against major pharmacies; a bundling antitrust case against a large medical distributor; an international arbitration between agricultural companies; and appeals in the US courts of appeals for the Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth circuits.

In addition to his practice, Berlin serves as president of the board of directors for the University of Chicago GI Research Foundation and as president of the Illinois Cannabis Bar Association. He is a former director of the Better Government Association.