Wilkinson Stekloff LLP

Managing Partner: James Rosenthal

Number of partners: 14

Number of lawyers: 51

Offices: Washington, DC; New York, NY

Firm Overview

Wilkinson Stekloff is the leading trial litigation boutique in the country, demonstrating a depth of talent and skill unmatched by firms of any size. Described by The American Lawyer as “the legal equivalent of an elite special ops unit,” the firm is at the forefront of the most significant litigation shaping the legal industry today, from landmark, precedent-setting antitrust cases to bellwether products liability trials. Fortune 500 chief executives and general counsel turn to Wilkinson Stekloff for strategic guidance, courtroom expertise, and unparalleled track record in the most high-profile, high-stakes disputes. The firm’s clients have included heavy-hitters across a wide range of industries, such as Allergan, Altria Group, Amazon, Bayer, Cargill, Facebook, FedEx, Georgia-Pacific, Glenmark, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Medtronic, Microsoft, Monsanto, the NCAA, the NFL, Pfizer, SAP, Valve, and Visa — all of which have come to rely on Wilkinson Stekloff as a go-to trial firm that can handle their toughest cases.

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. The firm offers fixed-fee arrangements for all cases, giving clients certainty around their budgets even in the most contentious trials. And 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 the 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. And this mission sets Wilkinson Stekloff apart from all trial practice groups. At Wilkinson Stekloff, 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.

Latest Results

Wilkinson Stekloff achieved headline-making results in 2023 for Microsoft in the second-largest merger trial in American history over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The firm defeated the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the transaction after a five-day trial that began less than two weeks after the FTC filed its federal court complaint. Wilkinson Stekloff directed all aspects of litigation strategy from the time the acquisition was announced, positioning the case for a federal court victory on an unprecedented timeline. In May 2025, the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the district court’s decision, and the FTC then dismissed its administrative complaint entirely. That trial marked a second major win against the FTC — the firm previously prevailed against an antitrust challenge to Altria’s $12.8 billion minority investment in Juul Labs. After a three-week trial before the FTC’s Administrative Law Judge, Wilkinson Stekloff won an unprecedented dismissal of all claims, ultimately leading the FTC to drop its case. Most recently, the firm successfully positioned Hewlett Packard Enterprise to close its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, defending against the DOJ’s antitrust challenge in federal court, securing a resolution just days before trial was set to begin.

Wilkinson Stekloff obtained a major victory in 2024 for the NFL and its 32 member teams when a California federal judge granted their post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law, overturning a jury’s earlier $4.7 billion verdict in a class action lawsuit challenging the League’s collective licensing of broadcast rights to NFL games. In June 2025, the firm also secured final approval of the groundbreaking and highly publicized settlement of multiple class action lawsuits filed against the NCAA and its five athletic conferences by current and former student-athletes pertaining to use of their name, image, and likeness.

Other representative matters include:

• Clark v. Monsanto Company, et al.After just a day of deliberation, won the first-ever jury verdict for Monsanto in litigation over claims that the herbicide Roundup causes Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Clark was the fourth case in this mass tort to go to trial, with the three previous trials resulting in verdicts against Monsanto ranging from $81 million to over $2 billion.
• Farar, et al. v. Bayer AG, et al.Won an outright defense verdict in a multi-state class action trial involving One A Day vitamins. Plaintiffs alleged that Bayer made false, misleading, and deceptive statements about One A Day. Before trial, Wilkinson Stekloff’s motions practice reduced the potential damages by hundreds of millions of dollars. At trial, based on devastating cross-examinations by Wilkinson Stekloff’s attorneys, the defense rested without calling a single witness. After just over an hour of deliberation, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.
• In re Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation.Wonfive bellwether trials on behalf of Bayer in mass tort proceedings involving the blood thinner Xarelto, defeating Plaintiffs’ claims that Bayer failed to adequately warn doctors about associated risks. In the first two federal trials, juries returned unanimous defense verdicts after only hours of deliberations. Then, in three state court trials, the firm secured two defense verdicts and a judgment notwithstanding an adverse verdict in a third case.

Accolades

Achieving this many successes with a firm of just 50 attorneys has led to multiple accolades for Wilkinson Stekloff and its attorneys, including national rankings by leading publications including Chambers, Benchmark Litigation, Legal 500, The American Lawyer, and The National Law Journal. Most recently, Wilkinson Stekloff was selected for the second consecutive year as Trial Firm of the Year by Benchmark, and was named National Boutique of the Year by The American Lawyer in 2024, after receiving Matter of the Year awards for the Microsoft/Activision Deal from both Benchmark and Global Competition Review.

Clients, colleagues, and competitors acknowledge that, lawyer for lawyer and matter for matter, Wilkinson Stekloff is a litigation juggernaut poised to continue its success for years to come.