Waste of the Day: Alabama Hired Lawyer for Lawsuits He Caused

Topline: Alabama legalized medical marijuana five years ago, but not one person has received a treatment. A flawed licensing process developed by the state and attorney William Webster has created dozens of ongoing lawsuits.

Alabama hired William Webster to clean up his own mess

Taxpayers and small businesses have paid the price, but not Webster. Alabama paid his law firm $604,000 to represent the state in the legal battles caused by the flawed licensing process he helped design, according to a state audit released on March 20.

Webster’s firm was only supposed to receive $400,000, but the state failed to monitor the contract and mistakenly let the lawyers work too many hours, the audit found.

Key facts: Businesses began applying for licenses to sell medical marijuana in June 2023. Webster and the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission could have relied on existing procedures developed by the state for awarding licenses. Instead, they relied on “inexperienced and supposedly randomly selected individuals at the University of South Alabama,” according to the Alabama Political Reporter.

Several businesses sued the state, alleging they had been wrongly denied licenses. Court injunctions have stopped any medical marijuana from being sold in the state until the disputes are resolved.

Webster’s law firm, Webster, Henry, Bradwell, Cohan, Speagle & DeShazo, P.C., was hired to help the state sort out the lawsuits. The audit does not say whether Webster is still receiving money from Alabama, but he has represented the state in court as recently as December 2025.

How much has Alabama spent on medical marijuana?

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Background: The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission spent $22.1 million in taxpayer money from May 2021 to September 2025, according to the audit. Payroll and benefits cost $4.4 million. Professional services, including legal fees, cost $4.6 million.

Open the Books has obtained records showing the Commission’s payroll through 2024, including salaries up to $233,935. However, most of the 2025 payroll is redacted, with salaries combined into a single lump sum payment listed as “Journal Entry – No Payee.”

Summary: State lawmakers have already called out the obvious conflict of interest in Webster’s work for Alabama, but it is likely too late for taxpayers to recoup their money.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.