Helping Alcohol Businesses Navigate Complex Regulations with Clarity & Confidence
Gillian Garrett is a go-to legal advisor for alcohol industry businesses seeking to navigate complex regulatory requirements and grow their operations in California and beyond. Her diverse clientele of producers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers run the gamut from companies with a global or national presence to small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is based.
Gillian’s clients benefit not only from her deep expertise in the ever-evolving California and federal laws overseeing the licensing, producing, distributing, marketing, and selling of alcoholic beverages, but also from her ability to explain the laws and a recommended course of action in clear and practical terms. She is also a seasoned trial attorney, equally comfortable defending clients in the courtroom as she is advising them behind the scenes.
Gillian’s Practice Areas
Gillian Specializes in California and Federal Alcohol Law
Defending industry members against claims brought by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC)
Defending industry members against claims brought by the Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
Advising clients about alcoholic beverage distribution and route to market strategies; defending clients in distribution-related disputes
Representing licensees in appeals of rulings from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s (ABC) administrative law judges to the ABC Appeals Board.
Representing licensees in petitions to change alcohol license conditions and related proceedings before the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).
Advising clients about procedures for requalification for licensure and representing clients in related proceedings before the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).
Advising clients about communications with ABC and TTB, and representing industry members in related administrative proceedings.
Advising clients about what they can and can’t do with each category of alcohol license.
Advising clients about local, state, and federal laws about alcohol business operations, distribution, transportation and shipping, marketing, and more.
Advising clients about how to follow the law and minimize risks when working with unlicensed third party vendors.
Alcohol Litigation
Gillian’s alcohol practice encompasses administrative litigation, including defending claims brought by state and federal regulators (ABC and TTB), related appeals, protests, and similar proceedings. Gillian also represents clients in alcohol-related disputes, including distribution disputes.
About Alcohol Litigation
Alcohol Regulatory Compliance
Gillian advises clients about local, state, and federal alcohol laws. California has one of the most intricate alcohol beverage regulatory frameworks in the country, and routinely passes more than a dozen new alcohol laws each year. Gillian creates customized handbooks and employee trainings for her diverse clientele across the industry, and works closely with business leaders and counsel to help ensure they stay on top of new regulations and compliant at all times.
About Alcohol Regulatory Compliance
Alcohol Distribution & Commercial Transactions
Gillian regularly advise clients about negotiating distribution agreements, managing distribution relationships, and strategies for getting products to retailers and consumers. She also advises alcoholic beverage and hospitality clients about alcohol-related commercial transactions.
About Alcohol Distribution & Commercial Transactions
Alcohol Marketing & Advertising
Gillian advises alcoholic beverage and hospitality clients on how to market and advertise wine, beer, and spirits without running afoul of California and federal regulations. She helps businesses navigate the complex framework of federal and state marketing rules and exceptions, including opportunities to take advantage of special marketing exceptions permitted by California law when applicable.
About Alcohol Marketing & Advertising
Tastings & Events
Gillian advises clients about state and local rules for wine, beer, and spirits tastings. She also helps alcoholic beverage and hospitality clients ensure regulatory compliance at alcohol-related events, including those involving nonprofit organizations.
Handbooks & Employee Trainings
Gillian prepares bespoke alcohol law handbooks for clients that summarize and provide valuable insight into the applicable local, state, and federal alcohol laws. These handbooks are tailored for each client’s location as well as their specific type of business. Gillian also creates and delivers employee alcohol law trainings designed to ensure that all key members of a company’s team are up to speed and on the same page.
Industries We Serve
Gillian Garrett Law, PC serves a wide variety of businesses in the alcoholic beverage and hospitality industries, including grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, bars, nightclubs, wholesalers, wineries, breweries, and distilleries.
