Cali Cope-Kasten has been named a 2022 Rising Star of the Courtroom by Business Insider. The prestigious list profiles 15 up-and-coming litigators who have represented clients in blockbuster trials and class actions around the country. An embodiment of Wilkinson Stekloff’s mission to develop the next generation of trial lawyers, Cali has earned this recognition at the age of 33, years before most of her fellow recipients.
Late last year, Cali played a critical role examining several witnesses in Clark v. Monsanto, the first case involving a child plaintiff in the litigation over whether the herbicide Roundup causes Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. After a single day of deliberation, a jury delivered the first-ever verdict for Monsanto.
Describing her experience with Business Insider, Cali shared that “jurors told her afterward that her questioning of a weed scientist about how often Roundup was typically used was key to their understanding of the case.”
Brian Stekloff, who has known Cali since she was a summer associate and has worked with her on numerous cases said, “(Cali) had a very natural instinct to be able to take complicated, high-stakes cases and translate the themes into jury-friendly points.”
Cali represents corporate clients across a diverse set of industries, from pharmaceuticals to sports to social media. Her experience includes six jury trials, three of which were federal multi-district litigation bellwether cases, and two bench trials. She has argued numerous motions in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level.