Tracy Genesen to discuss "Wine and Social Media: Prohibition, Power Politics and Consumer Choice"
California attorney Tracy K. Genesen will address the topic "Wine and Social Media: Prohibition, Power Politics and Consumer Choice," at a noon lecture on April 8 at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 565 West Adams Street (between Clinton and Jefferson streets), in Chicago. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by IIT Chicago-Kent's Program in Intellectual Property Law and Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States (ISCOTUS).
"Prohibition-era laws still loom large over the American alcohol beverage industry," says Genesen. "My presentation will focus on how these archaic laws that govern advertising, licensing and distribution relationships in the wine industry are constitutionally infirm, overreaching and ill-suited to today's digital marketplace."
A 1988 graduate of IIT Chicago-Kent, Genesen is a San Francisco-based partner in Reed Smith LLP's global regulatory enforcement group. She is nationally recognized in the area of constitutional law relating to the interstate sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages, particularly with respect to wineries. Genesen also provides regulatory advice to producer, retailer and social media entities in the alcoholic beverage industry.
In 2010, Genesen was named a "Top Women Litigator" by the Daily Journal, which called her the "primary go-to litigator for American wine industry trade associations on constitutional issues." She served as the American Wine Industry's litigation strategist for the 2005 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Granholm v. Heald, which struck down Michigan and New York laws prohibiting out-of-state wineries from selling directly to consumers. In 2010, she won the Family Winemakers v. Jenkins case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that overturned a Massachusetts production cap law.
This lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested for the reception immediately following the program. To RSVP or for more information, contact the IIT Chicago-Kent Alumni Association at (312) 906-5240 or alums@kentlaw.iit.edu.
Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is celebrating "125 years of distinctive legal education." IIT Chicago-Kent is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.
IIT Chicago-Kent currently offers a J.D. certificate program in intellectual property law and in 2002 became the first American law school to offer a one-year LL.M. degree in international intellectual property law.
Established in 2011, the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States combines the law school's core strengths: cutting-edge legal scholarship and technological innovation. Its Oyez Project leverages information technology to make materials related to the U.S. Supreme Court instantly accessible around the world. The website, www.oyez.org, provides immediate access to nearly 10,000 hours of courtroom audio and has added merits briefs and amici briefs to its already comprehensive database.
