Kamin said the firms see marijuana as a lucrative new industry, but still worry about the potential ethical and legal pitfalls — and how it will affect their reputations. The drug remains illegal under federal law, however, and the American Bar Association's rules of professional conduct prohibit lawyers from assisting in criminal conduct. With this in mind, attorneys say they focus on providing advice about what state marijuana laws do and don't allow, and decline to answer questions about how clients can bend the rules. Garfield, whose firm got into the marijuana field several years ago, was recently working on an appeal of a federal court's ruling that a couple did not qualify for bankruptcy protection because their assets largely stemmed from marijuana enterprises. Shy Sadis, 42, who has medical and recreational marijuana stores throughout Washington state, said Bricken has helped him trademark "The Joint," one of his store names, locate properties that would comply with the state's recreational marijuana rules and create forms that new patients must fill out.