Bloomberg Law featured Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Rakesh Kilaru’s leading role in negotiating a groundbreaking and highly-publicized settlement to major antitrust lawsuits filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its five major athletic conferences by current and former student-athletes.
Wilkinson Stekloff, led by Rakesh and Partner Cali Arat, has served as lead counsel for the NCAA in the series of overlapping class action lawsuits brought under the Sherman Act. Seeking to revolutionize college sports, plaintiffs challenged NCAA rules that limit student-athlete compensation and benefits, including rules restricting student-athletes from the commercial use of their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”), as well as rules prohibiting professional-style revenue sharing. From the moment each case was filed, Wilkinson Stekloff played a key role in coordinating and executing the overall defense strategy.
In its article detailing the dozens of legal minds responsible for advising both the defendants and plaintiffs, Bloomberg Law highlighted Rakesh’s “lead role negotiating a nearly $2.8 billion settlement . . . that could forever change the face of US college sports,” as well as his recent trial role in successfully defending Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. from challenges by the FTC and private plaintiffs.
In addition to Rakesh and Cali, the Wilkinson Stekloff team includes Partners Tamarra Matthews Johnson and James Rosenthal and Counsel Matthew Skanchy.