Justin McGuirk Named Wine Institute Vice President and General Counsel

SACRAMENTO – Wine Institute today announced the promotion of Justin McGuirk to vice president and general counsel, effective immediately. McGuirk previously served as Wine Institute’s senior counsel.

“Justin has done a tremendous job during his time at Wine Institute,” said Wine Institute President and CEO Robert P. Koch. “His experience and expertise will continue to be invaluable to our members on a wide range of key public policy and legal issues in his elevated role of general counsel.”

Prior to joining Wine Institute in September 2021, McGuirk was a senior associate in the San Francisco office of the law firm Reed Smith, where he worked for nearly seven years representing and counseling wineries, food and beverage companies, and other clients across a range of legal matters. While completing his legal education, McGuirk served in a variety of roles including as a research assistant for a wine industry legal expert on a book recounting the history of Napa Valley’s wine industry and a judicial extern for the Honorable Jon S. Tiger in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

Before his legal career, McGuirk’s additional work included a decade with Fat Possum Records, an independent record label based out of Oxford, MS where he helped market, manage and cultivate the label’s talent roster.

A graduate of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, McGuirk received his B.S. in public policy from Georgia State University.

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