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, achieving numerous full defense verdicts on behalf of his many clients in some of the most challenging jurisdictions in the country.

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. Brian is also a Benchmark “Top 100 Trial Lawyer” and “Litigation Star,” one of Lawdragon’s 500 “Leading Lawyers” and “Leading Litigators” in America, and a two-time National Law Journal “Winning Litigator” finalist.

Most recently, Brian co-led the trial team that secured judgment as a matter of law for the NFL and its 32 member teams in a class action lawsuit challenging the distribution of the Sunday Ticket subscription package and the NFL’s media agreements more generally. Brian handled examinations of several key witnesses, including the cross-examination of the plaintiffs’ primary expert, a sports economist, laying the groundwork for the post-trial Daubert ruling excluding the testimony as unreliable. Brian subsequently delivered the oral argument at the hearing regarding the NFL’s post-trial motions, resulting in a complete victory for the NFL.

Brian serves as national trial counsel for several clients in multi-district litigations around the country, including Monsanto in its Roundup litigation. In that litigation, he delivered the first full defense verdict for Monsanto 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 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, resulting in summary judgment in favor of Medtronic. Brian continues to represent Medtronic in national products liability litigation concerning its hernia mesh.

Before founding Wilkinson Stekloff, Brian previously practiced at Covington and Burling and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he tried multiple cases to verdict. 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.