We were devastated to hear of the untimely death of the captain of our ship for The Trial of the Plant, Maurice Crespi, on 16 January 2025 . A brilliant legal mind who steered the ship at Schindlers Attorneys and gave us our first big legal break back in 2013.

I will never forget sitting in the Schindlers board room when their team who were helping us with our NPC registration let us know that “the guys upstairs” wanted to meet us. In walked Maurice and his brother, Paul-Michael. We knew that our attorneys at Hartzenberg & Associates felt that our case was getting too big for them. We had done the rounds of the top law firms in Johannesburg and were turned down across the board. Maurice offered for Schindlers to take on our case. Probono. Wow!

The rest will be in the movie one day as Schindlers became the premier Cannabis law firm in South Africa and we made firm friends with their team. Through the dark days of full prohibition, 1000 arrests a day to the epic Trial of the Plant in 2017, Maurice was there for us, always ready for Friday lunch or cocktails on his balcony. Always ready with a dab and fascinating things to banter about – life, the universe, free will, legal conundrums, big plans for the technological age and on and on. Never a dull moment with Maurice around. 



On behalf of the South African Cannabis community, thank you for everything Captain!

Our heartfelt thoughts are with Maurice’s family and friends. I imagine that Jules and Maurice have already solved the riddle of free will out there in the multiverse somewhere…