Spotlight On: John Fanburg, Managing Member, Brach Eichler LLC
September 2025 — The regulatory environment can shift at a moment’s notice. As such, businesses need a reliable group of legal professionals who can help them make sense of the regulatory environment. In an interview with Invest:, John Fanburg, managing member of Brach Eichler LLC, highlighted the state of healthcare and cannabis law, the potential impact of the Big Beautiful Bill, and the ongoing transformation AI is having on the legal sector. “It is exciting to be part of business and legal changes, both personal and professional,” Fanburg said.
What have been the biggest changes for your operations over the past year?
One of the key factors for our law firm has been our investigation into how AI can be a useful tool for our attorneys and clients. We have spent the better part of the year understanding the technology as best we can, as well as interviewing consultants and the vendors who are selling these products.
One challenge for the law is that most of what is being offered in the industry is what is known as an open network, meaning it is a challenge to ensure the confidentiality of the information that we are getting for our clients. Because we deal with personal and business-oriented proprietary information, we need to make sure that whichever AI program we use is a closed system so it does not go into the cloud. This has been a major undertaking. We have begun to narrow down our options. We will roll it out in a few isolated areas to see how this plays out. We will also make a major investment in training for the platform at all levels. Unless you train your team on the right prompts, you are not going to use the program effectively and efficiently. It’s an exciting time for all of us in the business because AI will be there for us no matter what.
What is the state of the legal sector in the region, especially as it relates to healthcare and cannabis law?
On the healthcare side, what is keeping the industry active is the consolidation of healthcare providers. Many medical practices are merging to become larger medical practices. Many physician groups are selling their practices to hospitals, healthcare systems, or private equity. We are actively involved in helping physicians decide the right fit for them, whether that is a large medical group, a hospital partnership, or private equity. Many physicians have different ideas as to what they may need and where they would best fit.
Due to our experience and our long history in the healthcare sector, we are uniquely positioned to provide helpful input and recommendations. Healthcare is a highly regulated sector at the federal and state levels. Those regulations seem to become more intense as a result of the economic impact of all the consolidation. We have spent much of our time in the past couple of years helping all parties involved to understand the regulatory environment.
With cannabis law, we are still in the early stages compared to other states. However, we are much more advanced in terms of the East Coast marketplace. For example, we have licenses for home delivery, but not every state along the East Coast has that regulatory framework. It is popular on the West Coast, but not on the East Coast. New Jersey is unique in that regard.
We also just began to license consumption lounges, which is also unique on the East Coast. Many people live in apartments, and a lot of apartments or federal housing do not allow smoking. As a result, we are trying to create safe environments so people can do what they want, but at the same time keep it private and not impact other people’s use or enjoyment of the outdoors. In Manhattan, for example, people are smoking all over the place, and there are many unlicensed vendors, which is not good for the industry.
There is still a lot of work to do, but until the regulations were in place, 100% of the industry was underground and illegal. Now, though we cannot eliminate the black market, it is beginning to shrink. We have a regulated and safe environment. The product undergoes rigorous testing, and there is revenue to the state and to the community, which allows the licensed facilities. We are still early on in evolution, but we are getting better at it. I would, however, caution legislators not to overtax the industry. If you put too much tax on it, the black market will thrive because they can charge less.
What other practice areas are seeing strong demand?
Our largest and most active group is our litigation practice. We have great litigators. Clients come to us to help them solve their problems when they get into a jam, and litigation is the only way out. Litigation is expensive and takes time, but sometimes you can’t afford not to pursue your rights in court.
We have been successful in the cases that we take and in the outcomes. Litigation continues to be a growing practice for us, as well as labor and employment. Historically, real estate law has been one of our four core groups, and it still is. Due to current interest rates, real estate activity is slower, but we are confident it will come back as it always does. We have an active real estate industry in New Jersey.
What do you think will be the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on the healthcare sector?
We are concerned about the impact it will have in terms of Medicaid. Leading up to the passage of the bill, there was a lot of press about the eligibility of Medicaid dollars and whether people who are receiving Medicaid would be thrown out of the program, and what would happen to them. This is a valid and important aspect regarding the impact of the bill.
From the healthcare provider’s perspective, it also impacts hospitals and doctors who treat these patients. Anyone who goes to a hospital in New Jersey will be provided care no matter their ability to pay. If there is a reduction in dollars, then the hospitals and doctors will not be paid for what they do. This impacts the ability of hospitals to stay in business. It will impact access to care because providers have to pay bills, staff, and rent, which could bring a curtailment of healthcare services, either at the doctor or hospital level, which is a horrible thing to envision. I have been focusing on the impact on the healthcare providers and what will happen there, and this is going to be a big problem.
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