WASHINGTON, D.C. — Benchmark Litigation again named Wilkinson Stekloff the “Boutique Firm of the Year” during its annual awards ceremony in New York City — the second time in three years that Wilkinson Stekloff has received the recognition. This prestigious award recognizes Wilkinson Stekloff’s high-profile trial wins over the last year, including a defense verdict for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in McNair v. NCAA and multiple state-court bellwether trial victories for Bayer in trials involving the blood-thinner Xarelto. Wilkinson Stekloff also achieved several other pre- and post-trial victories in 2018, including judgment granted as a matter of law to Wilkinson Stekloff’s clients Oculus and Facebook on plaintiffs’ false designation claim in Zenimax Media et al. v. Oculus VR and complete dismissal, before any discovery, of a securities fraud class action case in In re MAXIMUS, Inc. Securities Litig. “We are deeply appreciative of Benchmark’s recognition of our firm for …
Wilkinson Stekloff Celebrates Banner Year of High Stakes Trial Wins By Next Generation Of Trial Lawyers
January 7, 2019
WASHINGTON – Wilkinson Stekloff is racing into its fourth year after notching a series of high-profile victories, led by a large and diverse group of partners. In 2018, all of Wilkinson Stekloff’s partners participated in trials and case-dispositive hearings, and several other attorneys achieved significant on-their-feet experience, including through pro bono cases. The firm earned repeated recognition for the depth and successes of its bench and added a new crop of talented litigators to its roster. Wilkinson Stekloff won three trials in 2018, each of which was first-chaired by a different partner: On April 27, 2018, Wilkinson Stekloff, led by Brian Stekloff, Jeremy Barber, and Lori McGill, won a unanimous defense verdict for Bayer and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Russell v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the second state-court Xarelto bellwether trial in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. On May 21, 2018, Wilkinson Stekloff, led by Kosta Stojilkovic …
Trial Court Throws Out $250 Million False Designation Verdict, Refuses to Impose Permanent Injunction Against Wilkinson Stekloff Clients
June 28, 2018
WASHINGTON – The trial judge in Zenimax Media et al. v. Oculus VR et al. today threw out plaintiffs’ biggest win at trial—a $250 million award for false designation—and granted judgment as a matter of law to Wilkinson Stekloff’s clients on that claim. U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade also denied plaintiffs’ motion to enjoin the use of disputed technology in the Oculus Rift headset, allowing Oculus VR to market and sell its products without restriction. In addition, the judge granted defendants’ motion for sanctions. Wilkinson Stekloff represents all defendants in the case, including Oculus VR and its parent company Facebook. The moves come sixteen months after the jury delivered a mixed verdict, rejecting plaintiffs’ lead claim of trade secret misappropriation, but awarding $500 million on other claims against Oculus VR and two of its executives. Today’s ruling cuts that award in half, and eliminates all damages assessed against the executives. …
Law360 MVP: Wilkinson Stekloff’s Beth Wilkinson
December 19, 2017
Law360, New York — Wilkinson Stekloff & Eskovitz PLLC’s Beth Wilkinson only co-founded her firm a year ago, and she and her team have already scored major victories defending Georgia Pacific from a $10 billion antitrust suit and winning the first two trials in the high-stakes Xarelto litigation, securing her a place as one of Law360’s 2017 Trials MVPs. The story is available here. Her biggest accomplishment this year: Wilkinson said that despite the many trial and motion victories her young firm has notched up this past year, her biggest accomplishment is undoubtedly the founding of Wilkinson Stekloff itself back in January. “The building of our firm and the incredibly talented people we’ve managed to get together to work on these cases has been nothing short of amazing,” Wilkinson said. “We started with 17 lawyers and now we’re at 40, and we’re already taking on big, bet-the-company cases that people normally think only BigLaw can …