Jim Thorburn has been an attorney since 1991. He is a founding partner of Thorburn Law Group LLC located in the Denver Tech Center, Colorado.

Jim’s primary background is commercial litigation in both state and federal courts.  Prior to entering the cannabis practice, his primary focus was litigation in the real estate and construction fields. These cases included defining the limitations of constitutional powers of local government in land use regulation.  Beginning in 2012, Jim began emphasizing cannabis tax controversy law, taking on some of the most notable cannabis tax controversy cases in the nation.   This experience made Jim a formidable force in cannabis tax controversy. 

On of Jim’s recent successes is obtaining a Statement Opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas in his advocacy of Standing Akimbo, LLC v. United States, 141 S. Ct. 2236, 2237 (2021)(Thomas, J.),  Justice Thomas questions whether the federal government has exceeded its necessary and proper powers under the commerce clause by continuing to ban cannabis on a federal level.  As msn.com noted: “Legal experts were quick to take note of Thomas’ statement as a harbinger of the imminent demise of federal authority to regulate marijuana.”  Jim was the lead litigating attorney for Alpenglow Botanicals v. United States, 894 F.3d 1187 (10^th Cir. 2018) where the Tenth Circuit Court found that exclusion of costs of goods sold from income is constitutional right.  Also, Jim had the honor of arguing the Feinberg v. Commissioner, 808 F.3d 813 (10th Cir. 2015) in front of now Justice Neil Gorsuch.  The published decision has been described as a “technical loss but an artful win for the cannabis industry.”

Jim has also been active with the National Cannabis Industry Association, being team lead past Lobby Days.  Jim Regularly follows cannabis issues pending on Capitol Hill and has a deep contact list of lobbyists, staffers, as well as Senate and House members.

As a result of Jim’s national recognition, Jim speaks and writes on marijuana legal issues across the country.  His latest publication is in Cannabis Business Times “280E: How We Got Here”.  Jim is a featured expert for the National Cannabis Industry Association.  Jim has been featured in all the major networks, Forbes Magazine, INC. Magazine, MJ Biz Daily, HBO (Vice News), Denver Post, Law360, Yahoo Finance, National Law Journal, The Cannifornian, and others.

Jimis a past recipient of the coveted National Law Journal Cannabis Law Trailblazer Award. 

Jim is also actively involved in motorsports and is the Past President of the Rocky Mountain Region Porsche Club of America.  He is also a PCA trained high-performance driving instructor.  PCA is a Porsche enthusiast club with over 120,000 members nationally, making it the largest single-marque car club in the world. Rocky Mountain Region PCA is the sixth largest PCA region in the United States with over 3500 members.