About Terrapin Legal
Terrapin Legal is a pioneering law firm focused on the evolving legal landscape of psychedelics and plant medicine. Founded in 2022, Terrapin was built on a deep belief in the transformative potential of psychedelics and a commitment to supporting their safe, responsible, and legally sound access.
Psychedelics sit at a unique crossroads of law, policy, and practice, raising questions about constitutional protections, regulatory frameworks, and risk management. Navigating these complexities requires a deep respect for traditional wisdom, an understanding of emergent research, and a commitment to practical, sustainable legal solutions.
Our approach extends beyond traditional legal strategies, drawing from diverse perspectives to provide comprehensive support. We don’t just address legal hurdles; we consider the broader societal and cultural impacts of psychedelic use. We believe that law can and should serve as a tool for safeguarding access to psychedelic and plant medicines, as well as the communities that rely on them for healing and transformation.
Terrapin is guided by simple yet meaningful values: gratitude, intentional strategy, and integrity. We believe that thoughtful legal frameworks, progressive policy reform, and expanded access are essential to creating a future where psychedelic practices are not only protected but fully recognized as legitimate and transformative.
Who is Terrapin?
Taylor Loyden, Managing Attorney
Taylor is an attorney, strategist, and advocate who sees law not just as a set of constraints, but as a catalyst for bold ideas. As the Managing Attorney of Terrapin Legal, she helps clients transform ideas into legally sound, strategically structured realities. Whether advising entrepreneurs, clinics, researchers, spiritual communities, or advocacy groups, she works at the forefront of psychedelic law, guiding clients through an evolving landscape with clarity, precision, and a deep understanding of both risk and opportunity.
Taylor brings a multidisciplinary approach to her practice, shaped by a career that has spanned far beyond the legal field. Before becoming an attorney, she spent over a decade as a backcountry guide, instructor, medic, and ethnobotanist.
Her experience managing risk in remote settings taught her to develop practical solutions with careful consideration for the well-being of those she serves—skills she now applies to her legal practice. Her interests in ethnobotany, mycology, and Indigenous wisdom further inform her work, allowing her to approach legal challenges with a broad and nuanced perspective that bridges science, culture, and policy.
She specializes in First Amendment protections, compliance strategy, and policy development, working with clients to design legal frameworks that don’t just mitigate risk but also support long-term success. For those pushing the edges of law and innovation, Taylor ensures that possibility is built on solid ground.
Pat Donahue, Founder and Expert Consultant
Pat Donahue spent years working in criminal defense while simultaneously supporting decriminalization and legalization within the psychedelic ecosystem. Informed by these experiences, Pat founded Terrapin Legal PLLC in 2022 to focus primarily on psychedelic policy, legalization, and advocacy for balanced and ethical practices.
Guided by the idea that “civilizations are born from the marriage of bureaucracy and mythology” (Yuval Noah Harari), Pat worked to foster collaboration between entheogenic churches and the DEA. This approach sought to reduce conflict and litigation by encouraging dialogue and understanding between these traditionally opposing parties.
While Pat continues to consult in the psychedelic space, he returned to full-time work as a Public Defender in late 2024, driven by a commitment to public service and justice. His years of experience in criminal defense have been integral in shaping his approach to advocacy and his understanding of the legal system. Pat’s experience in advocacy, law, and mediation reflects his dedication to finding practical solutions in complex regulatory environments.
John Rapp, Of Counsel
John is a New York and Washington State lawyer, mediator, teacher, ethicist and activist who educates, advises, connects, and protects entheogenic practitioners. He taught in the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School's first Psychedelic Law and Policy Boot Camp in 2024. He has served as an Affiliated Professor at the University of Washington Law School and in similar positions at two graduate business schools.
He started his career as a NYC Assistant District Attorney and moved into litigating class actions and major cases. He has been a manager at three of the world’s largest law firms; directed company-wide ethics education for a Fortune 50 tech company; and edited a global magazine. In his career as a law teacher, he has taught thousands of lawyers and produced hundreds of seminars. He has written for several legal journals and was profiled by Fortune magazine. He has actively supported the work of the Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants and is a founding member of the Psychedelic Bar Association. He is very active in the Sacred Garden Community Entheist Church and served on its inaugural Ethics Council.