OF COUNSEL

TRACY
GENESEN

  • Her work spans federal and state regulatory compliance, licensing, negotiations, HR matters, strategic partnerships, digital advertising, privacy, and First Amendment issues. She has represented clients before federal and state agencies, testified before Congress, and led precedent-setting constitutional litigation. Tracy argued and won Family Winemakers v. Jenkins in the First Circuit and served as a principal legal architect for the U.S. wine industry in Granholm v. Heald, one of the most consequential Commerce Clause cases of the modern era. 

    While at E. & J. Gallo Winery, she advised and provided strategic legal direction for an approximate $1 billion U.S. Spirits and Malt Business Sector while partnering with executive leadership to ensure visibility into key compliance matters, emerging risks, and risk‑reduction strategies. 

    Tracy’s leadership reflects her collaborative, executive-oriented approach. As a principal at Edrington North America, she played a key role in the company’s U.S. expansion, helping build a 100-employee team while maintaining the organization’s longstanding cultural foundation. As Vice President and General Counsel of Wine Institute, she guided risk management, compliance, litigation strategy, and regulatory policy for hundreds of family-owned and multinational companies.  

    Earlier in her career, Tracy was a partner at two national law firms, where she directed one of the most significant multi-district litigation efforts of the twenty-first century. She has been recognized as a “Top Women Litigator” by the Daily Journal, which described her as the “primary go-to litigator for American wine industry trade associations on constitutional issues.” 

    For more than 15 years, Tracy has also taught at leading law schools—including UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, and UC Davis—where she is known for her clarity, confidence, and ability to connect complex legal doctrines to real-world business challenges in the global beverage-alcohol sector. 

CONTACT

tgenesen@dpf-law.com

707-261-7000

1500 First St., Ste. 200
Napa, CA 94559

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PRACTICE AREAS

Alcohol Beverage Law and Compliance

Wine Law

  • J.D., Chicago‑Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology (Dean’s List)

    B.A., University of Wisconsin–Madison (cum laude)

  • ASSOCIATIONS

    American Bar Association

    Association Internationale des Juristes du Droit de la Vigne et du Vin (AIDV) (International Wine Law Association), Paris, France

    National Conference of State Liquor Administrators

    State Bar of California

  • Speaker, “Legal Professionals Panel” 2025 Sovos Shipcompliant Wine Summit (Napa, CA 2025)

    Speaker, “US Legal and policy considerations in running the Urban Winery“ AIDV Congress of the European Section 2024 (Athens, 2024)

    Speaker, “Labeling Requirements and Regulations” 2024 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium (Sacramento, CA 2024)

    Speaker, “Wine and Heath Benefits/Nutritional Labeling” 2023 Wine Industry Financial Symposium, (Napa, CA 2023)

    Speaker, “Developments in DTC & Interstate Shipment Regulations” Journal for Business, Entrepreneurship and the Law Symposium, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, (Malibu, CA 2023)

    Speaker, “TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade and Statutory Monopolies)” AIDV Conference 2023 (Okanagan Valley, Canada 2023)

    Speaker, “Staying Legal in a Digital World” DTC Wine Symposium 2022 (Concord, CA 2022)

    Speaker, “Latest Legal Developments and Updates – What Has Happened in the Wine World Since Vevey (2019)” AIDV Conference 2022 (Madeira, Spain 2022)

    Speaker, "Private Labels - Legitimate Use of Brands of Undermining Tied House?" National Conference of State Liquor Administrators Annual Conference (Waikoloa, HI 2018)

    Moderator, “Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)” 2017 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium (Sacramento, CA 2017)

    WRITINGS

    Board of Editors, Jus Vini, Journal of Wine & Spirits Law

    Co-author, “The Commerce Clause and the Twenty-First Amendment: An Evolving Constitutional Puzzle,” with Justin McGuirk, in Mendelson, Richard, ed., Wine in America: Law and Policy, a law school textbook (Wolters Kluwer 2011, 2023).

    Co-author, “Holding Provincial Liquor Laws to a Higher Standard: Comeau and Granholm,” with M. Bogost and B. Vogel in Jus Vini, Journal of Wine & Spirits Law (No.1, 2019).