Brian L. Stekloff

Career

Brian is a go-to first-chair trial lawyer who has tried over 30 cases to verdict before juries across the country.

Brian serves as national trial counsel for Monsanto in its Roundup litigation. He recently delivered the first full defense verdict in the litigation in a Los Angeles Superior Court case involving a boy diagnosed with cancer at age five. Brian has also obtained complete defense verdicts on behalf of Bayer, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer in products liability bellwether trials, including the first state court jury verdict for Bayer in the Xarelto litigation.

Brian has also played a critical role in winning cases before trial, including a recent Daubert and summary judgment victory for Medtronic in hernia mesh litigation in the Central District of California. The Court excluded Plaintiffs’ specific causation expert based on Brian’s argument and deposition. Brian continues to represent Medtronic in national products liability litigation concerning its hernia mesh.

In recognition of his success, Brian is nationally ranked in Chambers in “Products Liability” and “Mass Torts.” Chambers describes Brian as “a tremendous lawyer” who is “instrumental in getting favorable results.” Brian is also ranked by Legal 500 for “Toxic Torts,” “Consumer Products,” and “Sports.” In 2023, he was named “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and “Top Product Liability Litigator” by Benchmark Litigation, and led the trial team that received Benchmark’s “National Impact Case Award” for the defense verdict secured in Clark v. Monsanto.

Before founding Wilkinson Stekloff, Brian previously practiced at Covington and Burling and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he tried multiple cases to verdict and represented companies and individuals in government investigations and prosecutions. Brian also spent four years as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida, where he obtained full acquittals in nearly one-third of his jury trials at a rate of more than double the national average.

Work Highlights

Brian’s other notable representations include:

• Lead trial counsel for a major chemical manufacturer in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) Products Liability Litigation in the District of South Carolina. The multidistrict litigation, involving alleged PFAS groundwater contamination from the use of AFFF, is considered the most significant PFAS litigation in the country. Brian directs overall trial strategy in both the MDL and various state courts on behalf of the major chemical manufacturer, and was set to serve as lead trial counsel for the manufacturer in the first bellwether trial in the AFFF MDL, which was halted when the remaining parties announced a settlement to end all water-provider claims brought against the manufacturer.

• Lead trial counsel defending Altria Group, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries in the first government entity bellwether trial, brought by the San Francisco Unified School District, in multidistrict litigation arising out of Altria’s minority investment in JUUL Labs, Inc. Just one day after SFUSD rested its case and Brian’s cross examinations of three key plaintiff experts, plaintiffs agreed to a global settlement with Altria that resolved the personal injury, consumer class action, and government entity cases brought in over 6,000 e-vapor cases in state and federal courts.

• Lead trial counsel for the NFL in a national antitrust MDL lawsuit brought by putative class members challenging the League’s broadcast arrangement for its Sunday Ticket Package. The District Court dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims, with prejudice. The Ninth Circuit subsequently reversed that decision, and the case is scheduled for trial in February 2024.