Wilkinson Stekloff (WS) is the leading trial litigation boutique in the country, demonstrating a depth of talent and skill unmatched by firms of any size. Since its founding in 2016, the 40-lawyer firm has tried over 20 cases to verdict, winning the vast majority. Through 2023, that intensity continued, with a series of significant victories in challenging high-stakes cases across the country including the successful defense of the second-largest merger in American history.
What makes Wilkinson Stekloff unique?
The firm’s innovative business model and mission set Beth Wilkinson, Brian Stekloff, and their team apart from other trial practice groups. By offering fixed-fee arrangements for all cases, WS gives clients certainty around their budgets even in the most contentious trials. Because clients know they will pay the same fee no matter the size of the team, the firm can employ its depth of talent in all key events — depositions, strategy sessions, and court hearings — without affecting clients’ bottom line.
The firm views it as critical not just to hire outstanding attorneys, but to give them meaningful trial experience and client exposure. This is deliberate, as it supports the firm’s overall mission — to develop the next generation of trial lawyers. At WS, the vast majority of associates have worked on at least one trial, and those who have been with the firm for years are veterans of many trials in jurisdictions across the country.
The firm’s clients have included heavy-hitters in a wide range of industries, such as Allergan, Altria, Bayer, Cargill, Facebook, FedEx, Georgia-Pacific, Glenmark, Medtronic, Microsoft, Monsanto, the NCAA, the NFL, Pfizer, Plaid, and Philip Morris— all of which have come to rely on WS as a go-to trial firm that can handle their toughest cases.
WS continues to provide excellent outcomes for its clients. Most recently, the firm achieved headline-making results for Microsoft in the second-largest merger in history and the biggest involving a technology company over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. WS defeated the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the transaction after a five-day trial that began less than four weeks after the FTC filed its federal court complaint. WS directed all aspects of litigation strategy from the time the acquisition was announced in January 2022, positioning the case for a federal court victory on an unprecedented timeline. This trial marked the firm’s second major win against an antitrust challenge by the FTC, the first being its win for Altria in a challenge to the company’s $12.8 billion minority investment in JUUL Labs, Inc. WS won in front of the FTC’s Administrative Law Judge, and the FTC subsequently dismissed the case.
The firm also recently helped secure favorable settlements on behalf of its clients in three products liability matters after the start of bellwether or first-of-their-kind trials — one of which was a $235 million global settlement on behalf of Altria in separate litigation pertaining to its minority investment in JUUL that ended more than 6,000 related cases in state and federal courts.
In addition to serving as lead trial counsel for Microsoft and Altria, WS serves as national trial counsel for Monsanto in federal litigation arising out of claims that its popular herbicide Roundup causes Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and is lead counsel in the federal MDL in the Northern District of California. The firm previously won the first-ever jury verdict win for Monsanto in federal court and over the last year began serving as trial counsel in the newest front of litigation against Monsanto over its PCBs and Roundup branded products.
The firm is counsel in other headline-grabbing cases. WS is lead counsel for the NCAA in a putative antitrust class action lawsuit brought by student-athletes challenging rules that prohibit or limit student-athletes from receiving compensation for the commercial use of their name, image, and likeness under the Sherman Act. WS is lead counsel for the NFL, its 32 member teams, and NFL Enterprises in a class action lawsuit challenging the NFL’s multibillion-dollar exclusive distributorship arrangement with DIRECTV for Sunday Ticket. And the firm serves as lead trial counsel for a major chemical manufacturer in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation in the District of South Carolina involving claims surrounding PFAS, and Medtronic in national products liability litigation concerning its hernia mesh products.
As a trial boutique, the firm prides itself on providing pro bono representation to clients facing trials. The range of the firm’s pro bono practice is unmatched, covering appeals, class actions, and strategic counseling. WS has handled more than 100 pro bono matters since its founding in 2016, with nearly all of the firm’s attorneys devoting significant time to those matters and the firm’s brightest young talent winning trials in leadership roles. This year, the firm’s pro bono teams represented clients in immigration proceedings, post-conviction proceedings, family matters, and secured a win blocking the Arizona “Fetal Personhood” Law.
Achieving this many successes with a firm of just 40 attorneys has led to multiple accolades for WS and its attorneys, including being recognized by Benchmark as a “Top 20 Trial Law Firm,” “Top Boutique,” “Highly Recommended,” and “Tier 1 for General Commercial Litigation” and receiving Benchmark’s 2023 “National Impact Case Award.” The firm has also been recognized by Legal 500 for the last two consecutive years as “Tier 1 in Leading Trial Lawyers” of which the firm is only one of a handful of firms in the U.S. to achieve this high honor.
WS is also nationally ranked by Chambers in “General Commercial Litigation – The Elite” and “Product Liability & Mass Torts– The Elite” and has been shortlisted as an “Outstanding Firm for Pro Bono.” The firm is newly noted as a “Firm to Watch” in “Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Action Defense” and newly ranked in “Toxic Torts,” “Consumer Products Including Tobacco,” and “Sports” by Legal 500.
The firm’s deep bench of go-to litigators includes Beth Wilkinson, named Benchmark “Litigation Star” and chosen for Benchmark’s elite group of the 10 leading women litigators who stand out from its iconic “Top 250 Women in Litigation” and “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” lists, as well as a “Star Individual” in multiple practice areas, including “Trial Lawyers,” by Chambers, Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame,” and American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” for leading Microsoft’s defense of its Activision acquisition; Brian Stekloff, named Benchmark’s 2023 “Trial Lawyer of the Year,” “Top Product Liability Litigator,” and “Litigation Star,” and ranked by Chambers as a nationally prominent products liability trial lawyer; Keri Arnold, Moira Penza, and Cali Arat named Benchmark “Litigation Stars”; Rakesh Kilaru, Kosta Stojilkovic, and Kieran Gostin named Benchmark “Future Stars”; Rakesh Kilaru, Moira Penza, and Cali Arat named to Benchmark’s “40 & Under Hotlist”; and Keri Arnold, Moira Penza, and Cali Arat named to Benchmark’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation.”
Clients, colleagues, and competitors acknowledge that, lawyer for lawyer and matter for matter, WS is a litigation juggernaut poised to continue its success for years to come.
Updated Aug 2023
Clients from global brands and household names to cutting-edge startups and individuals trust Loeb litigators to resolve their thorniest legal disputes, whether that’s litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts across the country; investigations and enforcement actions before government agencies; or mediation, arbitration and regulatory agency proceedings.
Loeb litigators deliver practical and strategic counsel with a consistent focus on our clients’ business objectives and a steady determination not only to achieve the best possible outcome — in or out of the courtroom — but also to minimize risk, protect their brands and secure their competitive advantages in their markets and industries. Our lawyers have deep fluency in the law, courtroom-proven skills and well-earned reputations for effective advocacy based on decades of experience working with — and across the table from — clients, opposing counsel, judges and government regulators.
We approach every case as if trial is inevitable, and we are ready to go when the courtroom is the right answer, as we have in hundreds of cases and arbitrations. We know that this trial-focused approach is the best way to present a formidable case to a judge or jury — and to avoid a costly trial through a favorable settlement or quick disposition.
Our decades of litigation experience also enable us to provide valuable counsel to clients on risk avoidance, and our litigators often work closely with colleagues from practices across the firm to help identify and avoid potential disputes and areas of exposure that could turn contentious down the road.
Loeb litigators handle disputes across a wide range of services, including:
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Updated Sep 2023
With more than 3,200 lawyers across 14 countries, fluent in at least 60 languages, Latham provides clients with an unmatched global platform capable of mobilizing the best-suited teams regardless of location.
Litigation & Trial Practice: Latham’s Litigation & Trial Department includes a roster of top-tier trial lawyers. With a team of more than 1,000 top-flight litigators, including 35 former U.S. federal prosecutors, Latham has developed a fearsome reputation for bringing experience, insight, and determination to the table — and to the courtroom and the boardroom. Latham draws from its global platform to match the right skill and expertise to the matter at hand, bringing together diverse teams to develop and implement aggressive and creative litigation strategies. Antitrust &
Competition: Latham’s integrated practice is built around highly qualified lawyers who are skilled in both local and international dimensions of antitrust and competition issues. Our lawyers provide counsel on the full scope of antitrust and competition law issues, including merger clearance, cartel investigation and litigation, competition-related litigation, intellectual property antitrust, and compliance counseling and training programs. Latham provides top client service in matters involving monopolization challenges, fast-moving merger litigation, and novel theories in bet-the-company cases.
Connectivity, Privacy & Information: Latham leverages a global platform to address the critical legal issues arising from digital technology and services, in disciplines including communications, data privacy and cybersecurity, internet law, and digital copyright. Our team handles high-profile litigation, regulatory investigations and counseling, internal investigations, and technology transactions for clients in a multiple industry sectors. We handle matters requiring extensive experience in particular areas of the law governing digital commerce, as well as matters that cut across legal silos to deliver exceptional results to our clients.
Complex Commercial Litigation: Latham combines trial-ready capabilities and business fluency to deliver a winning edge, no matter how complex a client’s challenge. Latham regularly represents public and private companies, leading financial institutions, private equity firms and portfolio companies, states and governmental entities, and high net worth individuals in complex commercial disputes. We have tried or arbitrated hundreds of cases to verdict over the past decade with an extraordinary success rate, spanning every stage of litigation in U.S. federal and state courts and before arbitration panels. The Latham arsenal includes more than 350 former federal law clerks from each of the U.S. circuit courts and 40 districts courts. Additionally, 35 former federal prosecutors from districts across the United States contribute invaluable institutional knowledge and extensive courtroom experience.
Environmental Litigation: Latham represents an array of clients across administrative and regulatory proceedings, enforcement, litigation, transactions, and legislative matters. Latham routinely draws on this experience to help clients navigate complex agency rulemakings, win approvals for energy and infrastructure projects, obtain new chemical and product approvals, and resolve environmental investigations, compliance, enforcement, and litigation matters across industries. Our broad range of expertise, coupled with our unique government experience, differentiates Latham – clients turn to our trusted team for our long-standing track record to deliver on ground-breaking matters across the US.
Intellectual Property Litigation: Latham has litigators with unparalleled experience in the full range of IP disputes, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade dress, and trade secrets. We practice regularly in multijurisdictional litigation around the world, in more than 45 U.S. district courts, and before the Federal Circuit, International Trade Commission, and Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Our team includes more than 105 technically trained lawyers, nine technical analysts, and 17 dedicated IP paralegals. Latham’s highly trained technical teams have litigated cases involving semiconductors, software, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, image processing, audio processing, therapeutics, medical devices, electric motors, engines, cloud computing and networking, packaging, building products, and banking technologies, among others.
Securities Litigation & Professional Liability: Latham boasts one of the most experienced and successful securities and derivative litigation groups in the United States. Our securities litigators include former federal prosecutors, senior staff of the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and former clerks at the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and state courts. We represent Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, and the Big Four accounting firms. Our team has obtained dismissals and favorable settlements in multi-billion dollar securities class actions, and in the rare instances where trial is unavoidable., Over the past year, our lawyers have represented clients as defendants in more federal securities class actions than any other law firm, across 22 U.S. district courts.
Supreme Court & Appellate: Led by a former U.S. Solicitor General, Latham’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice has represented clients in numerous groundbreaking cases, with an outstanding record before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts. Our appellate practitioners have appeared before the Supreme Court more than 30 times since 2007, representing Fortune 100 corporations, state governments, leading educational institutions, and individuals. The practice has secured certiorari in nearly a dozen cases on behalf of firm clients in the past few years alone. The firm has argued and briefed hundreds of cases before the Supreme Court and federal and state courts of appeals.
White Collar Defense & Investigations: Latham is at the forefront of advising on white collar and enforcement matters, providing our clients with unparalleled regulatory expertise in high-profile and sensitive matters in the U.S., and around the world. Our formidable roster contains former top-ranking officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the SEC, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office, including attorneys from the White House Counsel’s Office. Latham is a top global firm in securing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act declinations, a market leader in healthcare regulation, a world leading Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) regulatory group, a destination firm for CFTC enforcement litigation, and a leader in the highest profile investigations.
Updated Oct 2023
Covington & Burling LLP (Covington) is a pre-eminent international law firm with more than 1,400 attorneys and advisors and offices in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Washington, Shanghai, and Seoul. We are known for the high quality of our work, in-depth knowledge of key industries, sophistication in complex corporate, regulatory, advisory, and contentious matters, deep loyalty to clients, and commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards.
Our distinctively collaborative culture allows us to be truly one team globally, drawing on the diverse experience of lawyers and advisors across the firm by seamlessly sharing insight and expertise. What sets us apart is our ability to combine the tremendous strength in our litigation, investigations, and corporate practices with deep knowledge of policy and policymakers, as well as one of the world’s leading regulatory practices.
Litigation Practice: Covington litigators have a well-deserved reputation for handling novel, complex, and high-stakes disputes. Our experience spans multiple disciplines and venues, and includes litigation against both private party litigants and government authorities in courts around the world. Clients choose Covington for their most challenging matters, knowing that the firm has a long track record of winning complex cases before judges and juries around the world
Our clients turn to us for their toughest challenges. We handle bet-the-company antitrust, class action, commercial, insurance recovery, intellectual property, product liability, securities, and corporate governance litigation; defend against ever more aggressive enforcement actions by national and local government agencies; and tackle their most complicated international disputes. By developing case themes early, focusing our discovery efforts on the key issues, and demonstrating the ability and drive to take the case to trial, we put our clients in the best position to win—whether through a verdict, a dispositive motion, or a negotiated resolution.
Vast Trial Experience: Our senior litigators, which include seven members of the American College of Trial Lawyers in the U.S., have successfully tried hundreds of jury and bench trials. We are adept at bringing a case from initial strategy through to trial, and obtaining successful outcomes for our clients. Our lead trial lawyers also are frequently called upon to take on cases for trial that have been handled by other firms in the earlier stages.
Regulatory and Industry Expertise: Covington is well known for its regulatory expertise, giving our litigators a leg up on our competition because of our ability to staff litigation matters with multi-disciplinary teams that take advantage of these market-leading practices and our deep expertise in the special characteristics and challenges of highly-regulated industries.
Global Reach: Our litigators appear before national and international courts in Europe, state and federal courts and enforcement agencies throughout the US, and arbitral tribunals throughout the world; we also counsel our clients in cross-border disputes involving Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas, utilizing a trusted team of foreign lawyers and our own expert team of former diplomats and advisers.
Savvy Case Management: We work in close collaboration with our clients to manage litigation efficiently; reduce and make costs more predictable through alternative fee arrangements; and find creative ways to resolve cases early.
Broad Resources: Our litigation teams are strengthened by our extensive e-discovery capabilities, our technological resources for managing information and preparing trial exhibits, and our ability to collaborate efficiently across firm offices.
Practices and Industries:
Corporate: Antitrust Transactions · Life Sciences Transactions · Capital Markets and Securities · Corporate Governance · Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation · Finance Integration and Legal Entity Structuring · Mergers and Acquisitions · Outsourcing · Private Equity · Private Funds · Project Development and Finance · Real Estate · Restructuring and Bankruptcy · Tax · Technology and IP Transactions · Venture Capital and Emerging Companies
Litigation and Investigations: Anti-Corruption/FCPA · Appellate and Supreme Court · Class Actions · Commercial Litigation · Congressional Investigations · Copyright and Trademark Litigation · E-Discovery, AI, and Information Governance · ERISA and Employee Benefits Litigation · False Claims Act · Institutional Culture and Social Responsibility · Insurance Recovery · International Arbitration · ITC Section 337 · Patent Litigation · Patent Office (PTAB) Trials · Product Liability and Mass Torts · Product Safety, Investigations, and Recalls · Securities Litigation and Enforcement · State Attorneys General · Trade Secrets · UK Parliamentary and Public Inquiries · White Collar Defense and Investigations
Regulatory and Public Policy: Advertising and Consumer Protection · Antitrust/Competition · Business and Human Rights · CFIUS · Copyright and Trademark Counseling and Prosecution · Data Privacy and Cybersecurity · Election and Political Law · Employment · Environmental · Food, Drug, and Device · Foreign Direct Investment Regulation · Futures and Derivatives - Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) · Global Compliance · Government Contracts · Health Care · International Trade · Patent Counseling and Prosecution · Public Policy · Technology and Communications Regulation
Industries and Issues: Aerospace, Defense, and National Security · Artificial Intelligence · Carbon Management and Climate Mitigation · Consumer Brands · Digital Health · Entertainment and Media · Energy · ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance Practice · Financial Services · Gaming · Internet of Things · Life Sciences · Metaverse · Mining and Metals · Music · Sports · Technology · Transportation
Updated Sep 2023