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 of certainty that can make the uncertainty of a potential high-stakes trial perhaps a bit easier to stomach. ‘Because we do these alternative fixed-fees, once they decide what the financial arrangement is, we never discuss that again. And whether there are three people in the room or eight people in the room, all they care about is they have the best and the brightest there who are focused on their trial.’”
Brian emphasized how that model, which frees clients from “counting heads”, also strengthens the firm’s ability to cultivate the next generation of trial lawyers, giving more junior lawyers and staff a meaningful role at trial. “Our associates and paralegals, they’re not the ones standing up in court. But that experience that they have just going to trial and knowing how trials work and seeing litigation through to trial is so valuable,” he said.
The feature also explored how the firm has evolved over its first decade. Where initially the firm’s primary work involved being brought in only months before trial, the firm has shifted over time to securing integral strategic roles at the beginning of cases, effectively teaming with a host of Big Law firms already entrenched in clients’ discovery or regulatory work. Brian explained, “We’re at least there more at the outset of cases to be identifying the trial themes and the trial strategies from early on in the case, so that no matter who’s executing on discovery, the trial themes are carrying through. We think for clients, generally, that’s better.” Beth added, “Nobody thinks we’re going to steal their long-term counseling, regulatory or corporate work. We don’t do that. So, it’s easier to partner [with us].”
Despite the firm’s success—winning the vast majority of its more than 25 cases tried since opening its doors—running a boutique has not been without its challenges. Brian acknowledged that the biggest hurdles of the first decade had less to do with the quality of the legal work and more to do with the practicalities of building a small business from the ground up—finding office space, securing employee health insurance coverage, and standing up a retirement plan. And the firm’s business model carries an inherent tension: the bet-the-company disputes that are Wilkinson Stekloff’s hallmark are, by their nature, cases clients hope never to have—meaning repeat business is never guaranteed. “People don’t want to hire us, and even clients who love us, who are very loyal to us, hope that they don’t have a lot of those cases,” Brian said. “Usually, clients do find ways to come back to us.”
Through the challenges, Beth and Brian have only looked forward, aiming to establish an enduring institutional reputation that can be carried on by the next generation of trial lawyers. They remain committed to the firm they built together—and the way they built it. “It sounds great to start a boutique, and it has been for us,” Beth said. “I think Brian and I feel like we could never go back to Big Law.”