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 …
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 …
Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Cali Arat Named Law360 Rising Star for Product Liability
July 30, 2025
Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Cali Arat was profiled as one of Law360’s Rising Stars—an award honoring “attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.” From over 1,100 submissions, Cali was selected for her substantial achievements over the past several years as one of only three practitioners in the Product Liability practice area. In an interview with Law360, Cali reflected on her work at the forefront of high-stakes product liability litigation. She recounted her role in securing Monsanto’s first trial win in its Roundup litigation, Clark v. Monsanto, saying it “was a real uphill battle for us.” Despite the difficulties faced, Cali’s examinations of two crucial expert witnesses—directing Monsanto’s weed science expert and crossing plaintiff’s human studies expert—contributed to a victory that “changed the tide” as Monsanto went on to score multiple subsequent wins in the sprawling litigation. Cali next served as lead counsel for the Bayer subsidiary in a first-of-its-kind …
Wilkinson Stekloff Again Recognized by Chambers Among Trial Elite; Seven Partners Receive Individual Rankings
June 5, 2025
Chambers and Partners again ranked Wilkinson Stekloff as an elite law firm across multiple practice areas in its newly released USA 2025 Guide. The leading legal industry research outlet continues to recognize the firm’s work on the most significant trials and consequential litigation in the country across the antitrust, products liability, and sports landscape. Wilkinson Stekloff has maintained its reputation as a national litigation powerhouse despite its boutique moniker and modest 40-attorney roster, taking nearly two dozen bet-the-company, multi-billion-dollar cases to trial since the firm’s inception, stacking up win after win. Most recently, the firm scored a complete victory for the NFL and its 32 member teams after post-trial briefing in a class action lawsuit challenging the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” subscription package distribution model. In acknowledgement of these continued successes, Chambers has raised Wilkinson Stekloff’s rankings nearly across the board and vaulted the firm into an additional nationwide category, Antitrust …
Ten Wilkinson Stekloff Partners Selected to the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America
April 8, 2025
For a tenth consecutive year – each year since the founding of the firm – Wilkinson Stekloff partners have been honored on the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America list. After founding partner Beth Wilkinson was inducted into Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame in 2024, the firm has placed ten partners on the publication’s 20th edition of their flagship guide. The 500 Leading Lawyers in America is an annual guide that recognizes the most influential attorneys in the nation. The lawyers chosen for this list lead matters across the country in a variety of jurisdictions but have one thing in common – they achieve success for their clients. The honorees are identified through a nomination process and rigorous independent research, including vetting with peers and competitors to ensure those selected are truly at the top of the legal field. The ten Wilkinson Stekloff partners honored as Leading Lawyers are: Brian L. …
Wilkinson Stekloff Named Trial Firm of the Year by Benchmark Litigation For Second Straight Year
March 12, 2025
Benchmark Litigation honored Wilkinson Stekloff as the “Trial Firm of the Year” at their 2025 U.S. Awards on March 7, the second year in a row that the firm has received that recognition. Benchmark’s recognition stems from another outstanding year of high-profile trials for Wilkinson Stekloff. Led by founding partners Beth Wilkinson and Brian Stekloff, and partner Rakesh Kilaru, the firm led the NFL’s defense of their “Sunday Ticket” subscription package, scoring a total victory for the NFL. Devastating cross-examinations of Plaintiffs’ experts by Beth and Brian led to the Judge granting post-trial Daubert motions and judgment as a matter of law, wiping out a $4.7 billion verdict prior to trebling. The firm also was shortlisted for “Boutique Firm of the Year” and “D.C. Firm of the Year,” while Beth and Brian were named for the second year in a row as finalists for “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and …
Wilkinson Stekloff Promotes Sarah Neuman to Firm Partnership
December 20, 2024
Wilkinson Stekloff is pleased to announce that Sarah Neuman has been promoted to Partner effective January 1, 2025. Since joining Wilkinson Stekloff in 2017, Sarah has been a member of numerous trial teams and achieved success for clients in some of the biggest and most significant cases in the country. “Sarah emerged as a leader within the firm and is a go-to resource for clients and colleagues alike,” said Wilkinson Stekloff Founding Partner Brian Stekloff. “Her growth over the past seven years embodies our firm’s commitment to training the next generation of trial lawyers. We’re thrilled to welcome her to the firm’s partnership and look forward to the many successes she will continue to achieve in and outside the courtroom.” Sarah recently played an integral role in securing a groundbreaking victory for Microsoft, defeating the FTC’s efforts to enjoin its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and winning the second-biggest …
Beth Wilkinson and Rakesh Kilaru Named Winning Litigators at 2024 National Law Journal Legal Awards
October 28, 2024
In recognition of Wilkinson Stekloff’s remarkable run of wins in some of the past year’s most consequential trials and matters, Founding Partner Beth Wilkinson and Partner Rakesh Kilaru were named joint Winning Litigators at the 2024 National Law Journal Legal Awards. This prestigious annual series highlights the top litigation work of law firms and attorneys from the previous year. Selected from a competitive field of 20 accomplished finalists, Beth and Rakesh secured the Winning Litigators recognition for their work taking on some of the largest and most complex antitrust litigation in the country. They led the team that won the second largest merger trial in American history and the biggest involving a technology company, defeating the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. They continue to represent Microsoft in the FTC’s appeal in the Ninth Circuit and the FTC’s challenge to the merger through an …
Benchmark Litigation Selects Wilkinson Stekloff as a Top 20 Trial Law Firm, Honors Eight Partners
October 9, 2024
Wilkinson Stekloff has been named a Top 20 Trial Law Firm in the 2025 Benchmark Litigation guide, marking the third consecutive year the firm has received this prestigious recognition. Additionally, Wilkinson Stekloff was recognized as a Top Boutique, ranked as Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation, and is Highly Recommended for Dispute Resolution in D.C. Considered the definitive guide to the world’s leading litigation firms and lawyers, Benchmark Litigation rankings are determined by six months of extensive research, which includes interviews with peers and clients. In addition to the firm’s rankings, Wilkinson Stekloff Founding Partners Beth Wilkinson and Brian Stekloff were recognized among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers, an elite group selected by peers and clients as the best of the best in the practice of trial law. This recognition comes on the heels of Beth being named a Top 10 Female Litigator by Benchmark Litigation for the fourth year in a row. Benchmark Litigation also recognized several Wilkinson …