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 were in-person jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has argued numerous motions in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level.
Rakesh is known for delivering favorable results to clients at every stage of litigation in matters ranging from antitrust to product liability to consumer class actions. Rakesh recently served as second-chair trial counsel for Microsoft in the FTC’s challenge to the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Rakesh directed the legal and expert strategy and handled several witnesses at trial, including Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and both of Microsoft’s economic experts. Rakesh then served as lead counsel for Microsoft in the FTC’s appeal in the Ninth Circuit. Rakesh also has helped deliver high-profile trial victories for Bayer and the NCAA; obtained significant summary judgment victories for Bayer and Georgia-Pacific; and secured full dismissal of a groundbreaking enforcement action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before any discovery was taken.
First and foremost a trial lawyer, Moira has a record of success leading and winning high-stakes civil and criminal cases. Moira recently served as trial counsel defending Altria Group, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries in the first government entity bellwether trial, brought by the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), in multi-district litigation arising out of Altria’s minority investment in JUUL Labs, Inc. Moira played a substantial role at trial, conducting the cross-examinations of two of plaintiffs’ expert witnesses. Just one day after SFUSD rested its case, the SFUSD and MDL plaintiffs agreed to a global settlement with Altria that resolved the personal injury, consumer class action, and government entity cases brought in over 6,000 e-vapor cases in state and federal courts.