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 …
Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Cali Arat Named to the Daily Journal’s 2025 “Top 40 Under 40”
October 22, 2025
Wilkinson Stekloff partner Cali Arat has been named to the Daily Journal’s prestigious “Top 40 Under 40” list for 2025. This distinction honors California’s most accomplished young attorneys, and future leaders, across the legal profession. Cali has spent her first decade of practice at the center of some of the nation’s highest-stakes and most closely watched litigation. She has already served as counsel in seven jury trials—including two as lead—for major clients spanning the pharmaceutical, medical technology, and sports industries. In Clark v. Monsanto, Cali served as co-lead trial counsel for Bayer alongside Founding Partner Brian Stekloff, securing the first defense verdict in the Roundup litigation. She argued the general causation Daubert motion and examined multiple experts at trial, focusing the jury on the scientific evidence in order to deliver a complete defense win after only one day of deliberation. Cali later served as lead trial counsel in Frank v. …
Benchmark Litigation Names Five Wilkinson Stekloff Partners to their Top Women in Litigation and 40 & Under Lists
August 14, 2025
For the fifth consecutive year, Beth Wilkinson was honored among Benchmark Litigation’s prestigious “Top 10 Women in Litigation,” an elite subset of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” singled out “specifically for their litigious acumen” and celebrated for receiving the most prominent and emphatic “best-in-class” nominations during Benchmark’s 2025 research cycle. Partners Keri Arnold, Moira Penza, and Cali Arat were all selected for another consecutive year among the “Top 250 Women in Litigation,” a guide that acknowledges the women who have played pivotal roles in the most consequential recent litigation matters. These women have won the respect of colleagues and clients alike, distinguishing themselves as leaders in their respective practice areas. Cali was also selected alongside Partner Sarah Neuman to Benchmark’s 2025 USA 40 & Under list which recognizes “the top emerging talent in litigation” and most promising young lawyers who are shaping the future of the legal industry. Beth has served as lead counsel in …
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 …
Three Wilkinson Stekloff Attorneys Selected to the 2025 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation
July 18, 2025
Wilkinson Stekloff Partners Cali Arat and Sarah Neuman were joined by Counsel Roxana Guidero on Lawdragon’s 2025 edition of 500 X – The Next Generation. This guide honors influential, up-and-coming attorneys across the legal spectrum who have been practicing for fewer than fifteen years, offering an exciting glimpse into the future of the profession. Cali has appeared among Lawdragon’s 500 X every year since its inaugural guide in 2023. She is an experienced trial litigator, having played key roles on more than half of the firm’s trial teams, including serving in standup roles for high-stakes victories on behalf of Bayer subsidiary Monsanto in their Roundup litigation. Cali also played an integral part in resolving the NCAA’s name, image, and likeness litigation through its groundbreaking settlement, which received final approval from a district court judge in June. For these and other accomplishments, Chambers and Partners recently recognized her as “Up and …
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 …
Wilkinson Stekloff Recognized by Law360 and the American Lawyer for NCAA Victory Against Past NIL Claims
May 6, 2025
On May 2, Law360 recognized Wilkinson Stekloff in its Legal Lions of the Week feature for winning dismissal of all claims in Chalmers, et al. v. NCAA, et al., in the Southern District of New York. In addition, the American Lawyer acknowledged the victory by the NCAA and major athletic conferences in their Litigator’s of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs. The Wilkinson Stekloff team was led by Rakesh Kilaru, and included Cali Arat, Tamarra Matthews Johnson, Daniel Epps, and Matthew Skanchy. Chalmers—who famously made a game-tying three-point shot at the end of regulation in the 2008 men’s basketball national championship game—filed his complaint against the NCAA and six major athletic conferences, seeking to represent a sprawling nationwide class of former student-athletes dating back more than 40 years. Chalmers claimed the class members’ NIL had been used improperly by the NCAA in advertising “March Madness” and its other championships. Rakesh led …
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 …
Wilkinson Stekloff Partners Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 2024 Top 250 Women in Litigation; Beth Wilkinson Honored Among Top 10
August 15, 2024
For the fourth consecutive year, Beth Wilkinson was honored among Benchmark Litigation’s prestigious “Top 10 Women in Litigation,” an elite subset of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” that celebrates recipients of the most robust and vocal “best-in-class” nominations throughout Benchmark’s research cycle. In addition, Partners Cali Arat, Keri Arnold, and Moira Penza were selected to the “Top 250 Women in Litigation,” a guide that honors women who have participated in some of the most impactful litigation matters in recent history, earning the hard-won respect of their peers and clients as top players in their respective fields. Beth has served as lead counsel in over 50 jury trials, including numerous bet-the company, multibillion-dollar cases, developing an unrivaled record of victories in federal and state courts throughout the country. Beth’s career has taken her from the Army to a leading role in the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers to nationally recognized work as a litigation partner at two of …
Three Wilkinson Stekloff Partners Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 2024 40 and Under List
August 9, 2024
Wilkinson Stekloff Partners Cali Arat, Rakesh Kilaru, and Moira Penza were named to the 2024 Benchmark Litigation’s “40 and Under,” a list of the nation’s best and brightest young litigators. This is Cali’s second appearance on the list and Moira’s fourth. Rakesh has secured a spot each year since 2018. Since joining the firm at its founding in 2016, Cali has served as a key member of more than half of the firm’s trial teams, including most recently leading the representation of Monsanto in the first hybrid trial involving claims that exposure to PCBs and Roundup-branded products, both manufactured by Monsanto, cause Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Cali has helped to develop and execute successful trial strategies for corporate clients across a diverse set of industries, from pharmaceuticals to sports to social media. Her experience includes seven jury trials, three of which were federal multi-district litigation bellwether cases, two of which were bench trials, and two of which …