After about a year-and-a-half in-house with The Wonderful Company, whose brands include POM Wonderful juice, Halos mandarin oranges and Fiji water, lawyer Kate Spelman has returned to Jenner & Block's Los Angeles office as a partner in its complex commercial litigation practice.

Prior to joining The Wonderful Company's in-house team, which is named Roll Law Group, in December 2017, Spelman worked at Jenner & Block for seven years, where she litigated class actions arising out of the consumer products industry.

“California has a very robust food and beverage litigation practice, [and] it's a significant venue for those types of cases, so the firm has been, over the past number of years, pretty invested in growing its California presence to work on these types of cases,” Spelman said. “Based on my background experience, it was just a really good opportunity to come back.”

At The Wonderful Company, where Roll Law Group handles most of its litigation internally, Spelman conducted litigation risk assessments and litigated claims related to the company's food and beverage brands.

“Having been in-house, working more directly and on a day-to-day basis with business folks, I have a deeper understanding of how litigation risk is accessed when making business decisions, and how the goal of the business can really impact the goal of litigation,” she said.

Spelman noted she is experienced in working on litigation over food labeling, particularly for products labeled as “natural,” including cheese and tea.

Dean Panos, head of Jenner & Block's food and beverage industry group said in a statement, “with the high volume of food and consumer class actions filed in California, adding another lawyer with such deep experience who is based in the state significantly strengthens our capabilities.”

He added, “Kate's familiarity with these cases and her understanding of our clients' business pressures further our strategic vision of providing exceptional service to leading companies in the industry.”

Jenner & Block's Los Angeles office, which opened in 2009 with two lawyers, has grown to 42 lawyers. Firmwide, Jenner & Block has 123 lawyers in its complex commercial litigation practice, and eight in the food and beverage industry group.

Jenner & Block's food and beverage industry group has collectively handled more than 75 consumer class action cases in the last five years alone, the firm said.