Jesse D. Lyon

Jess Lyon focuses his practice on transactions and regulatory issues for clients in the wine, food, beverage and agribusiness industries. He helps structure and negotiate asset acquisitions, and develops strategic agreements for manufacturing, distribution, licensing and marketing. Jess advises clients in a full range of related work, from real estate transactions to trademark licensing.

Jess speaks with regional winery groups throughout the Pacific Northwest, and has discussed management of industry-specific legal opportunities and pitfalls in presentations to the membership of the International Culinary Tourism Association.

Practice Highlights

Food and beverage

• Starbucks/Seattle's Best Coffee/Tazo Tea Co.: Establishing contractual gift packer programs for third-party distribution channels and negotiating its national foodservice distributor agreements (ongoing)
• Waterloo Restaurant Ventures (the largest domestic franchisee of Brinker International's Romano's Macaroni Grill brand): Development and implementation of comprehensive, multistate regulatory compliance and permitting program for 13 restaurants throughout the West Coast (ongoing)

Wine and alcoholic beverages

• Pacific Rim Winemakers: represented in sale of business to Mariani family
• Laurelwood Brewing Company: Serving as general counsel and in the development and expansion of new facilities, including recent locations of their Laurelwood Public House & Brewery concept in concourses at Portland International Airport
• Willamette Valley Vineyards: Serving as general counsel, including disputes with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) involving privilege taxes, patent integrity and labeling (ongoing)
• Clear Creek Distillery: State and federal regulatory matters, liquor licensing/permitting and fire safety for its new urban distillery location (ongoing)
• Oregon Winegrowers Association: Serving as general counsel for all advocacy and legislative matters (ongoing)
• Carlton Winemakers Studio (the first multi-winery cooperative winemaking facility and shared tasting room in the nation): Serving as general counsel in the development and implementation of its strategic business and regulatory/liquor licensing plans (ongoing)
• Representing New York- and Pacific Northwest-based advertising and public relations firms in the analysis and development of multistate advertising and marketing programs and tasting events, in compliance with liquor laws in key markets nationwide, for their wine and beer industry clients (ongoing)
• Representing more than 100 other wine and alcoholic beverage industry clients, such as Wine by Joe, Winderlea Wine Company and Mateveza Ales as their general counsel for all regulatory and compliance matters

Agribusiness

• Represented Wallowa County, Oregon-based Goertzen Buckhorn Ranch LLC in wind power leasing agreements
• Served Oregon Rangeland Trust and Potato Variety Management Institute as outside general counsel