The second installment of The American Lawyer’s two-part series by Ross Todd, “No Benches, No Depth Charts: How Wilkinson Stekloff Set Out to Grow Trial Lawyers and Become a Litigation Institution,” further explores how Wilkinson Stekloff’s next generation of Partners is helping the nation’s premier trial boutique leave an enduring mark on the legal community. The article highlights the experiences of Partners Kosta Stojilkovic and Moira Penza, whose paths to the firm exemplify the unmatched trial opportunities central to the firm’s mission, and illustrate the close-knit culture that sustains teams during the pressure-filled moments when stakes are the highest—both hallmarks of Wilkinson Stekloff’s first decade. Kosta, who joined the firm within its first year, recalled that his very first day involved accompanying Founding Partner Beth Wilkinson to pitch Facebook for trial work on a significant trade secrets case. After landing that matter with Kosta as second chair, Beth next recommended …
Wilkinson Stekloff Featured in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily for Pioneering Business Model
March 24, 2026
Wilkinson Stekloff is proud to be featured by The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily in the first of a two-part series by Ross Todd, examining how the firm has grown into the nation’s premier trial boutique over its first decade. The article offers an in-depth look at the alternative fee model and trial-first philosophy that have defined the firm—and its success—since Founding Partners Beth Wilkinson and Brian Stekloff left their previous positions in Big Law. Ten years in, the firm has grown to nearly 50 lawyers and 30 staff, with a client roster that includes household names such as the NFL, the NCAA, Microsoft, Bayer, and Cargill. Central to the firm’s growth and development has been its commitment to flat-fee arrangements over the billable hour, which frees the firm to focus entirely on what it does best: trying high-stakes cases. That approach, Beth explained, “gives clients and their CFOs a level …
Wilkinson Stekloff Wins Big at Benchmark Litigation’s 2026 U.S. Awards
March 12, 2026
Wilkinson Stekloff was honored with multiple awards at Benchmark Litigation’s 2026 U.S. Awards ceremony on March 11 in New York City. The firm was named “Trial Firm of the Year” for an unprecedented third consecutive year. Founding Partner Beth Wilkinson was inducted into Benchmark’s “Hall of Fame.” Partner Rakesh Kilaru won “Antitrust Litigator of the Year.” And the NCAA’s groundbreaking $2.8 billion NIL settlement received an “Impact Case Award.” Beth Wilkinson and fellow Founding Partner Brian Stekloff were also finalists in the respective categories of “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and “Product Liability Litigator of the Year”—distinctions each earned in previous years—and the firm was shortlisted again for “D.C. Firm of the Year” and “Boutique Firm of the Year,” having captured the latter in both 2017 and 2019. Beth Wilkinson’s appearance in Benchmark Litigation’s Hall of Fame is a fitting tribute to one of the nation’s preeminent trial lawyers, having …
Wilkinson Stekloff Featured in Washington Lawyer Cover Story for Its Innovative Approach to Associate Development
March 2, 2026
Wilkinson Stekloff is proud to be featured by the Washington Lawyer, the official publication of the D.C. bar, in its latest cover story titled “Redefining the New Associate Experience.” The article offers an in-depth look at how the firm—celebrating its 10th anniversary this year—has built a distinctive model to achieve its primary mission: developing the next generation of trial lawyers. Bucking the conventions of traditional big law practice, Wilkinson Stekloff’s approach offers a compelling model grounded in hands-on experience, early responsibility, and a culture that prizes mentorship over hierarchy. “There are a lot of great attributes, qualities, and development that you can get in Big Law, but it’s hard to develop those skills for a trial because you need a lot of repetition.” says Beth Wilkinson, one of the firm’s founding partners. “So, a lot of young attorneys don’t get that trial experience.” “Brian Stekloff, the firm’s other founding partner, …
Law360 Names Wilkinson Stekloff Practice Group of the Year in Competition/Antitrust and Sports & Betting Categories
February 18, 2026
Wilkinson Stekloff has been honored by Law360 as a Practice Group of the Year—an award that celebrates “the attorney teams behind litigation wins” that “resonated throughout the legal industry”—in both the Competition/Antitrust and Sports & Betting categories. This marks the first time the firm has won two PGOTY honors in the same cycle, underscoring landmark results across trials, appeals, and complex resolutions in 2025. The firm was previously recognized by Law360 in Competition/Antitrust in 2023 and Sports & Betting in 2020. Law360’s features spotlighted Wilkinson Stekloff’s many victories for the NCAA—beginning with securing approval of the groundbreaking $2.8 billion name-image-and-likeness (“NIL”) settlement, which resolved antitrust claims from multiple plaintiff classes against the NCAA and five major athletic conferences, enabling schools to directly compensate student-athletes for their participation in athletics. Despite a complex process that required lead defense negotiator Rakesh Kilaru to defend the deal at multiple hearings before it received …
Wilkinson Stekloff Celebrates 10 Years with a Look Back at 2025 Achievements
February 2, 2026
As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we remember our beloved colleagues and friends Elizabeth Keys and Sarah Lee Best, whose lives were among those tragically lost in the airplane crash above Reagan National Airport a year ago. Liz and Sarah left an enduring mark on our firm and on all of us as individuals. We have kept them in our hearts and minds and always will. To honor their memories, we endowed scholarships in their names at their law school alma maters, Georgetown and Pennsylvania. With the support of our clients and colleagues, those scholarships have been fully funded and will aid new generations of lawyers in carrying on Liz’s and Sarah’s legacies. Continuing our tradition of excellence, in 2025 Wilkinson Stekloff again achieved landmark results spanning a variety of high-stakes matters, further entrenching the firm as the premier trial litigation boutique in the nation. Our recent successes include: As …
Benchmark Litigation Shortlists Wilkinson Stekloff Across Six Categories for 2026 U.S. Awards
January 9, 2026
Wilkinson Stekloff has been shortlisted for Benchmark Litigation’s 2026 U.S. Awards, marking the firm’s third consecutive year as a finalist for Boutique Firm of the Year, D.C. Firm of the Year, and Trial Firm of the Year––an award the firm won in both 2024 and 2025. Founding partners Beth Wilkinson and Brian Stekloff are again shortlisted for “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and “Product Liability Litigator of the Year”, respectively, while Partner Rakesh Kilaru is a first-time finalist, for “Antitrust Litigator of the Year.” These nominations further add to the firm’s impressive Benchmark profile, which includes being named a “Top 20 Trial Firm” and “Top Boutique Firm”, ranked “Tier 1” in both Antitrust and Commercial litigation, and coming “Highly Recommended” in Washington, D.C. Rakesh also recently joined Beth and Brian among Benchmark’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and seven Partners have earned Litigation Star status. Benchmark’s recognition follows a string of …
Benchmark Litigation Again Names Wilkinson Stekloff as a Top 20 Trial Law Firm, Recognizing Eight Partners
October 29, 2025
Wilkinson Stekloff has been named a “Top 20 Trial Law Firm” for the fourth year in a row by Benchmark Litigation—one of the premier guides to leading law firms and legal practitioners—in their 2026 US edition. This elite distinction follows the firm winning “Trial Firm of the Year” in back-to-back years at Benchmark’s annual US Awards ceremony. The firm also earned a “Tier 1” ranking in Competition/Antitrust—its first appearance in the category—owing to a string of high-profile wins in bet-the-company antitrust matters. In recent years, Wilkinson Stekloff secured major victories for Microsoft in its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, winning the second-biggest merger trial in American history; for the NFL, by winning judgment as a matter of law on multibillion-dollar class-action claims challenging their Sunday Ticket subscription model; and for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, positioning the company to close its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks after a federal court …
Beth Wilkinson Named to Forbes 2025 List of America’s Top Lawyers
September 15, 2025
Founding Partner Beth Wilkinson has been named to the Forbes 2025 list of America’s Top Lawyers, a prestigious recognition honoring the nation’s most accomplished attorneys in private practice. Forbes has also previously identified her among the Best-In-State Lawyers in Washington, D.C. for Antitrust. The Forbes list “is a roll call of high-caliber counsel, culled from a range of practice areas and specializations,” developed “through a rigorous, multi-stage process of researching, evaluating and rating thousands of candidates through nominations, direct outreach, recommendations and editorial review.” Nominees were evaluated not only based on their success, but on the complexity and significance of their work, and their influence on the legal profession as a whole. Beth’s recognition reflects her decades-long track record as one of the country’s preeminent trial lawyers, known for taking bet-the-company cases into the courtroom—and winning. Beth recently defended Hewlett Packard Enterprise in its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks against the …
Eleven Wilkinson Stekloff Partners Named among the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America
September 10, 2025
Eleven Wilkinson Stekloff partners have been recognized among the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America. This achievement marks the fourth consecutive year that the firm has placed at least nine partners in this prestigious guide—dating back to its inaugural release in 2022—underscoring the strength and depth of Wilkinson Stekloff’s litigation bench. Honorees from the firm’s Washington, DC and New York offices are recognized across a wide range of practice areas, including Trials, Antitrust, Product Liability, Mass Tort, Environmental, White Collar, Investigations, and Class Actions. This breadth of recognition reflects Wilkinson Stekloff’s generalist approach, allowing the firm to take on clients’ most complex and high-stakes disputes, regardless of the subject matter. The Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America is an annual guide acknowledging the nation’s most accomplished courtroom advocates, selected through a rigorous process of independent research, submissions, and vetting with both peers and adversaries. These outstanding attorneys distinguish themselves …