About

‘There is a constant challenge working in-house to prioritise where we spend our time’, opines Jeremy Stevenson. ‘We need to get the balance right between urgent day-to-day work and work that makes a long term investment in the business. The increasing level of global regulation remains a challenge for a small legal team supporting a business with offices across the globe and sales into over 110 countries’. Accolade Wines was originally formed from the amalgamation of two former subsidiaries of NY-listed Constellation Wines Australia, finalised in 2011. Jeremy Stevenson joined the business at the eye of the storm in 2010, tasked with supporting the company through the transition and building a global legal function fit for the newly-established entity. He has gone on to lead significant cross-border transactions which followed the merger. ‘I enjoy the pace, variety and the global nature of the role and work I do’, he says. ‘I am lucky to work with some very talented colleagues and with prominent brands and in an industry I love’. Known for promoting a deeper immersion within the business, Stevenson has, to some extent, transcended the traditional GC role. ‘While my title is general counsel, my role is actually broader than a traditional GC role’, he explains. ‘I have global responsibility for legal, brand protection, company secretarial, communications, government relations and corporate HR’. Law firms, he says, could sometimes do more to understand the needs of the in-house counsel who instruct them. ‘We don’t need a firm to run the deal for us – we will do that. We need the expertise their experience and specialisation can bring and the resources they can deliver. The best firms find that balance’.