All-Alumni Reunion > Programs >
Decanting Wine Law
Saturday, September 30
1:30 - 2:45 pm
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Listen to the panel (1 hr 11 min, 87.8 mb) |
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| Wine has become big business in the United States, tallying $26 billion in sales in 2005. The wine business raises a range of legal and regulatory issues, including interstate sales, licensing, trademarks, contracts, land use and environmental compliance. Join leading experts in a discussion of legal concerns facing the industry. Moderated by Scott Gerien '96 of Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty with panelists Ron Larson '61, senior vice president and general counsel of Trinchero Family Estates; John Mackie '73, managing partner of Carle, Mackie Power & Ross; and Deborah Quick '02, of Morgan Lewis. |
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Scott Gerien '96 has been practicing trademark, copyright and unfair competition law since his first case, the famous 1996 Kendall-Jackson v. Gallo "Turning Leaf" trademark dispute. His experience includes appearing before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; counseling on protection, licensing and acquisition of intellectual property; and enforcement and litigation in state and federal court.
Scott is works at Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty, where he specializes in intellectual property. His clients have included companies from a wide range of industries. His representation of wineries, vineyards, breweries and spirits producers has allowed him to develop a special expertise concerning intellectual property issues affecting these industries. He has spoken and published extensively on these subjects.
Scott previously worked at Owen Wickersham & Erickson. He is the vice president of the North American Chapter of the International Wine Law Association and chairman of the International Trademark Association North America Subcommittee on Geographical Indications. Scott graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College with a degree in Political Science. After college, he worked in advertising as an account executive before attending Boalt, where he was the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Remedies and a member of the Moot Court Board.
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Ron Larson '61 is senior vice president of corporate affairs and general counsel at Trinchero Family Estates/Sutter Home Winery Inc., the largest family owned and operated winery in the Napa Valley, and the fourth largest winery in California. He has represented the Trinchero family interests since 1983. A skilled trade and business lawyer, his portfolio includes the purchase of Folie à Deux winery and brands, sale of Glen Ellen facilities and brands and purchase of the Sutter Home winery.
Ron was previously in private practice in San Francisco for 25 years at Broad Schulz Larson & Wineberg, and then as a shareholder and board member of Steefel Levitt & Weiss. He is admitted to practice in all of the California and federal district courts, the U.S. Court of Claims, the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the U.S. Supreme Court (Briggs v. Grubb). After graduating from law school, Ron enrolled in the Ford Foundation work/study program for legislative interns in the California State Assembly, and thereafter became a registered legislative representative in Sacramento.
His associations include: life fellow, American Bar Foundation; The Wine Institute, Public Policy Committee; World Wine Trade Group; California Association of Winegrape Growers; co-founder of the Wine Industry Financial Symposium; director, The Upjohn San Francisco Fund; and founding member l' Association Internationale des Juristes pour le Droit de la Vigne et du Vin as well as past president of its U.S. Section.
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John Mackie '73 helped to found Carle, Mackie, Power & Ross in 1998 and serves as managing partner. His practice emphasizes wine and food law, business organization and finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate development, and environmental regulation. John represents start-up companies, corporations, financial institutions, agricultural concerns, food manufacturers and retailers, wineries, industry organizations and suppliers. He also represents a number of nonprofit clients.
John has a strong interest in wine and food, and served as president of the Berkeley Food and Wine Society. He brought this passion into his private law practice, establishing a Wine and Food Group for the firm of Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon in 1990. John was a partner in the law firms of Freytag and LaForce; Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon; and Marron-Reid. And, he has extensive experience in the public sector.
After graduating from Boalt in 1973, he joined San Francisco's Department of City Planning, where he was instrumental in drafting the city's first subdivision ordinance and redrafting the residential zoning ordinance. He focused on industrial siting issues at the Association of Bay Area Governments and went on to serve in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research. He completed his government tenure as deputy secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing for the state of California.
John serves on the boards of numerous community arts organizations and associations that address wine industry concerns. Among other positions, he is a founding board member of the proposed Sonoma County Food and Wine Center and a board member of the Sonoma County Museum.
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Deborah Quick '02 is an associate in the Real Estate Practice Group in the San Francisco office of Morgan Lewis. Her area of concentration are securing development and redevelopment entitlements and securing approvals—such as general and specific plan amendments, development agreements, zoning amendments and subdivision maps—from cities, counties and other governmental agencies. She is also responsible for the coordination and review of environmental documentation under the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Deborah conducts land use due diligence and provides counseling in the contexts of property acquisition, disposition, leasing and financing.
A representative of winery and resort developers in the western United States, Deborah was also involved in successfully defending SB 1293. This California legislation enacted in 2000 requires that California-produced wines labeled with brand names that include the name "Napa," or the names of any of Napa’s sub-appellations, contain a minimum of 75 percent grapes from Napa.
Deborah is a Boalt graduate and also earned her bachelor's from UC Berkeley. She was managing editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law during the 2000-01 academic year and a member of the Ecology Law Quarterly.
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