For a second consecutive week, Law360 and the American Lawyer have recognized Wilkinson Stekloff in their weekly features. Law360’s Legal Lions of the Week and AmLaw’s Litigator’s of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs acknowledge the Ninth Circuit’s decision affirming Wilkinson Stekloff’s victory at trial defending Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Wilkinson Stekloff’s appellate team was headed by Rakesh Kilaru — who led the briefing effort and argued the appeal for Microsoft before the Ninth Circuit in December 2023 — and Beth Wilkinson — whom the American Lawyer previously recognized as Litigator of the Week for the trial court win — and also included partners Kieran Gostin and Sarah Neuman, and associate Jenna Pavelec. A Sidley Austin team led by Will Levi, along with Rick Beckner and Daniel Hay, was also essential to Microsoft’s success before the court of appeals.
In July 2023, Wilkinson Stekloff secured a groundbreaking victory on behalf of Microsoft in the second-largest merger trial in American history in FTC v. Microsoft Corp., convincing a Northern District of California Judge to reject the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction just four weeks after the FTC filed its federal court complaint seeking to block Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of videogame-maker Activision Blizzard. Microsoft engaged Beth as lead counsel the day after the acquisition was announced in January 2022. The court’s denial of an injunction — and Wilkinson Stekloff’s successful opposition of the FTC’s multiple requests for stays pending appeal — cleared the path for the merger to close in October 2023.
When the FTC appealed the decision — the government’s first vertical merger appeal since United States v. AT&T in 2018 — Rakesh went on to lead appellate briefing and argue on behalf of the Microsoft before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The argument involved back-to-back hearings including a parallel appeal from a group of gamers seeking to enjoin the transaction, which later settled while the appeal was pending. The Ninth Circuit’s decision not only affirms Wilkinson Stekloff’s hard-fought trial victory on an unprecedented timetable, but validates Microsoft’s acquisition as good for gamers and for competition in the gaming industry.