Helping clients find the right approach to take with government alcohol regulators can be like choosing the right wine for dinner: stressful, complex and you don’t have all day.

That’s why Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman hired Jerry Jolly, a 31-year veteran of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, as a nonlawyer consultant for its five-person wine, beer and spirits practice group earlier this year.