On March 13, 2024, Benchmark Litigation honored Wilkinson Stekloff at their 12th annual U.S. Awards in New York City in celebration of “the country’s most distinguished litigators and their firms for their exemplary work over the past twelve months.”
Wilkinson Stekloff was awarded “Trial Firm of the Year” for serving as lead trial counsel in several major litigations, which culminated in significant activity and favorable results within only a three-month span. During that period, the firm took on a litigation docket unlike any other, including representing Microsoft in the FTC’s challenge to its proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Altria in a range of high-profile cases related to its $12.8 billion purchase of a minority interest in JUUL Labs, and a major chemical manufacturer in the first bellwether trial in the most significant PFAS products liability MDL in the country.
In addition, Wilkinson Stekloff received the “Impact Case of the Year” award, spotlighting the firm’s work on the Microsoft matter — the second-largest merger trial in American history and the biggest involving a technology company. The go-to firm for clients who want to litigate cases with an eye toward trial rather than settlement, Wilkinson Stekloff has served as litigation counsel for Microsoft since the day after the acquisition was announced in January 2022. Led by Founding Partner Beth Wilkinson and Partner Rakesh Kilaru, the firm’s team positioned the case for a federal court victory on an unprecedented timetable, defeating the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the transaction after a five-day trial that began less than two weeks after the FTC filed its federal court complaint. The deal closed on October 13, 2023.
This is the second year in a row that the firm has won the “Impact Case of the Year” award, which underscores how Wilkinson Stekloff continues to be at the forefront of today’s most significant litigation moving the needle in the legal industry. The firm was a finalist in two other categories — “Boutique Firm of the Year” and “D.C. Firm of the Year” — and its attorneys were finalists in three other categories — Beth Wilkinson for “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and “Antitrust Litigator of the Year” and Founding Partner Brian Stekloff for “Product Liability Litigator of the Year,” making the 2024 awards a record-setting year for the firm in terms of the number of nominations.