On August 2, Law360 recognized Wilkinson Stekloff’s major victory on behalf of the NFL and its 32 member teams as the lead achievement in its Legal Lions of the Week feature, highlighting several members of the Wilkinson Stekloff team, including Beth Wilkinson, Brian Stekloff, Rakesh Kilaru, Jeremy Barber, and Max Warren. In addition, the American Lawyer named Beth, Brian, and Rakesh its Litigators of the Week on August 14.
Wilkinson Stekloff secured this win when a California federal judge granted the NFL’s post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law, overturning a jury’s earlier verdict in the class action lawsuit that had challenged the League’s collective licensing of broadcast rights to NFL games, including the exclusive distributorship arrangement with DIRECTV for its Sunday Ticket subscription.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez’s definitive ruling, which set aside the jury’s original $4.7 billion award to the plaintiffs, comes after nine years of litigation in which certain Sunday Ticket subscribers alleged that the League’s media rights model had violated U.S. antitrust law.
“Most clients would not have the patience or the wherewithal to stay the course for 10 years,” Beth shared in an interview with the American Lawyer’s Ross Todd. “Ultimately it’s proof of that old saying: good things come to those who wait.”
The firm shares the Legal Lions and Litigators of the Week honors with co-counsel Covington & Burling.
The Wilkinson Stekloff team, long noted for its trial prowess, has emerged as a dominant force in bet-the-company antitrust cases. In 2023, the firm secured a groundbreaking victory for Microsoft in the second-biggest merger trial in American history, clearing the way for the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. And in May of this year, the firm led negotiations in a groundbreaking settlement of antitrust class actions brought by current and former student-athletes challenging NCAA rules that limit student-athlete compensation and benefits.