Kosta Stojilkovic
Kosta is a seasoned trial lawyer and strategist who has tried more than a dozen complex cases to verdict. As a Partner with Wilkinson Stekloff, he has played a key role in many of the firm’s matters, including serving as lead trial counsel for the NCAA in a high-profile defamation jury trial; trial counsel for Facebook in a $6 billion intellectual property trial; trial counsel for a former pharmaceutical executive in a nationally reported healthcare fraud trial; and defense of a sitting federal judge in mandamus proceedings in the D.C. Circuit. He has also represented several Fortune 50 companies in high-stakes disputes and governmental investigations that have not become public.
Many of Kosta’s recent matters involve antitrust claims. For several years, he has led the defense of Cargill in multidistrict litigation alleging anticompetitive conduct in the cattle and beef industries. He has represented Amazon in multiple merger reviews and is part of the company’s defense team in e-commerce litigation opposite the Federal Trade Commission and various State Attorneys General. He is representing Hewlett Packard Enterprise opposite the Department of Justice in defense of a proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks.
Kosta has also led representations in other substantive areas of law, including commercial disputes, environmental enforcement, intellectual property, and white-collar crime. While the goal in every case is to win before or at trial, Kosta has a record of success in post-trial proceedings as well, including defeating attempted recoveries of several hundred million dollars from his clients.
Kosta is recognized as a “Litigation Star” (Benchmark, 2025). He is nationally ranked for “Antitrust” and “Sports” (Legal 500, 2024-present). He has been named to Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America” (2019-present), “500 Leading Litigators in America” (2022-present), and “500 Leading Global Antitrust and Competition Lawyers” (2025). He previously featured on the “40 & Under Hotlist” (Benchmark 2018-2019), as a “Rising Star for Trials” (Law360, 2018), and a “DC Rising Star” (National Law Journal, 2017).
Before joining the firm, Kosta served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he successfully prosecuted fraud, public corruption, and intellectual property offenses. In recognition for this work, he received a Department of Justice Director’s Award and an Assistant Attorney General’s Award.
Kosta began his legal career by clerking for the Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr. on the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit.
Education
- Law: University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.; Articles Editor, University of Virginia Law Review; Dillard Scholar; Order of the Coif
- Undergraduate: St. Mary’s College of Maryland, B.A.; Valedictorian; Phi Beta Kappa; Honors Program
Clerkship
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Supreme Court of the United States
(2005-2006) - Judge John G. Roberts, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (2004-2005)
Notable Matters
- Lead counsel for Cargill, Incorporated and Cargill Meat Solutions in In re: Cattle and Beef Antitrust Litigation. This multidistrict litigation, set in federal court in Minnesota, alleges a conspiracy by major beef packers to lower their input costs and raise profits. It features six putative class actions collectively seeking more than $30 billion in damages (before trebling), as well as dozens of stand-alone cases filed by direct action plaintiffs. Kosta is involved in all aspects of Cargill’s defense, including case strategy, dispositive motions practice, and fact and expert development.
- Lead trial counsel in Todd McNair v. NCAA. Obtained a defense jury verdict in state court in Los Angeles. McNair, a former USC assistant football coach, was implicated by the NCAA in the Reggie Bush benefits scandal. He sued the NCAA for defamation. Wilkinson Stekloff took over the representation after the NCAA had lost three pre-trial appeals, including on the issue of McNair’s ability to show falsity and malice. At trial, Kosta and his team persuaded the jury to reject McNair’s claims and find that none of the NCAA’s statements was false. Trial judge Frederick Shaller called the advocacy in the case “the best I’ve seen since I’ve been a judge.” After further proceedings, the matter resolved successfully.
- Trial counsel in ZeniMax Media et al. v Oculus VR et al., on behalf of Facebook, Oculus VR, and individual defendants in a federal jury trial in Dallas, Texas. Plaintiffs sought $6 billion in damages based on alleged use of their intellectual property. Kosta developed the case strategy and conducted witness examinations at trial. He helped obtain a defense verdict for Facebook and a partial defense verdict for the remaining defendants. He also led post-trial briefing, where he persuaded the court to sanction plaintiffs for withholding evidence and prevented them from recovering $40 million in attorneys’ fees.
- Defense of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA against criminal price-fixing charges. The Department of Justice obtained indictments of Glenmark and another pharmaceutical company, placing them at risk of debarment in the United States. Kosta led pretrial motions practice and prepared the case for trial, exposing key weaknesses in the government’s legal theory and supporting evidence. With trial only months away, the government dropped all charges and gave Glenmark a favorable deferred prosecution agreement.
- Trial counsel in a nationally reported criminal case about an opioid pain medicine. Kosta represented the lead defendant, a former pharmaceutical executive, in a four-month jury trial, including cross-examining dozens of government witnesses at trial and handling most of the legal arguments. Kosta also led post-trial briefing and argument, where he persuaded the trial court to throw out the lead charges in the case and to reject over $300 million in financial penalties sought by the government.
- Counsel for District Judge Emmet Sullivan in mandamus proceedings before the D.C. Circuit arising out of the criminal case against former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. After the Department of Justice sought to dismiss Flynn’s guilty plea and conviction, Wilkinson Stekloff was hired to defend Judge Sullivan against an effort to prematurely terminate the case. The D.C. Circuit ultimately ruled in a bipartisan, 9-2 decision that the case should be reinstated and returned to Judge Sullivan.
- Represented the Executive Council of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake in Hengle v. Asner, a consumer class action filed in the Eastern District of Virginia in April 2019. After motions practice resulted in Plaintiffs dropping all claims for money damages against the Tribe’s economic development arms and the dismissal of Plaintiffs’ injunctive relief claim under RICO, the parties reached a nationwide class action settlement in which the Tribe paid $0 into the settlement fund and $0 in attorneys’ fees.
- Obtained a complete dismissal under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of a putative securities fraud class action in Amalgamated Bank et al. v. Maximus, Inc. et al., in the Eastern District of Virginia. The victory was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
- Lead prosecutor in United States v. Kolon Industries, a novel prosecution of a foreign conglomerate for conspiring to steal trade secrets from DuPont. Opposite a team of law firms, including a former U.S. Solicitor General, Kosta succeeded in forcing the foreign conglomerate to appear in court in the United States, and obtained a conviction and payment of $360 million in restitution and fines. As reported in The American Lawyer, the case was “a historic first.”
- As a prosecutor, obtained convictions at trial in large-scale identify theft, bank fraud, diplomatic immunity fraud, mortgage fraud, and entitlement fraud cases. Also obtained bribery convictions of a Pentagon official and a U.S. Army serviceman, and a series of convictions that helped shut down a market manipulation brokerage in Costa Rica and a tax haven in the Cayman Islands.
- Successful defense of Cinergy (now a part of Duke Energy) in three Clean Air Act trials opposite the Department of Justice. Conducted direct and cross-examinations at trial as a law firm associate. The client prevailed on 44 out of 50 claims at the trial level, with additional claims won on appeal.