Beth A Wilkinson

Beth is one of the nation’s most highly regarded trial lawyers and a founding Partner of the nation’s leading trial boutique, with over 35 years of experience in high-profile criminal cases and bet-the-company civil litigation. She has first-chaired more than 60 jury trials, with an unmatched record of success in federal and state courts throughout the country. Beth’s career began in the Army and continued from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Department of Justice, where she took on lead roles in the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers, to nationally recognized work as a litigation partner at two of the nation’s most prominent law firms, before founding Wilkinson Stekloff.

Most recently, Beth led the trial team that secured a victory for the NFL and its 32 member teams in one of the largest antitrust class action lawsuits in the country, which challenged the distribution of the Sunday Ticket subscription package and the NFL’s media agreements more generally. Beth delivered opening and closing statements and conducted direct examinations of several key NFL witnesses, including Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones. Beth also cross-examined one of the plaintiffs’ key expert witnesses, laying the groundwork for the post-trial Daubert ruling excluding the testimony as unreliable and resulting in a complete victory for the NFL.

Beth also recently served as lead trial counsel for Microsoft, prevailing in the FTC’s challenge to Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision—the second-largest merger trial in American history and the biggest involving a technology company. She 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, directing all aspects of litigation strategy from the time the acquisition was announced in January 2022 to position the case for a federal court victory on an unprecedented timetable. The American Lawyer named Beth “Litigator of the Week” and described the firm as “the legal equivalent of an elite special ops unit” for leading the successful defense.

Beth is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and an Elected Council Member of The American Law Institute (ALI). In 2025, she received Bloomberg Law’s “Unrivaled” award, the inaugural celebration of the most impactful high-stakes litigators in the country, was named one of “America’s Top Lawyers” by Forbes, and was recognized by Global Competition Review as one of the elite “Women in Antitrust.” Chambers and Partners has honored Beth with its national “Outstanding Individual” award, and both Benchmark Litigation and Legal 500 have inducted her into their Hall of Fame. She has been named The American Lawyer “Litigator of the Year,” a Law360 “Trial Ace” and “Trial MVP,” a National Law Journal “Winning Litigator” and “General Litigation Trailblazer,” a Hollywood Reporter “Power Lawyer,” and one of Washingtonian’s “Most Powerful Women in Washington.”

In addition to being named a Legal 500 “Leading Trial Lawyer”, Chambers and Partners has repeatedly awarded Beth their highest distinction of “Star Individual” across multiple practice areas of Trial Law, Products Liability, and General Commercial Litigation, while also ranking her in their top tiers for Antitrust Litigation Specialists and Sports Law. Chambers described Beth as “the best trial lawyer there is,” a “superstar,” and a “lion at the bar,” noting her “supreme advocacy” and “unparalleled experience acting as lead trial counsel.” Beth has also been selected among Benchmark Litigation’s elite “Top 10 Women in Litigation” and “Top 100 Trial Lawyers,” as well as recognized as a “Litigation Star.” She has also appeared among Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America” and “500 Leading Litigators in America” and on the Daily Journal’s nationwide “Leading Commercial Litigators” list.