Firm and Attorneys Moved Up the Ranks in 2020
WASHINGTON — Continuing its rapid rise, Wilkinson Stekloff made a strong showing in the 2020 Chambers and Partners rankings. Chambers recognized the firm as a litigation and products liability powerhouse, and also spotlighted three of the firm’s founding partners.
In recognition of the firm’s track record of success in bet-the-company cases, Chambers moved Wilkinson Stekloff up to Band 2 for General Litigation. Additionally, for the first time, Wilkinson Stekloff received recognition for success in Product Liability & Mass Torts. Chambers and Partners described Wilkinson Stekloff as an “impressive litigation boutique, noted for its expert handling of complex, bet-the-company cases for leading corporate clients across a wide range of sectors, with a substantial market share in the pharmaceutical industry.”
Chambers also praised Wilkinson Stekloff’s “enviable bench,” including “several leading practitioners with significant federal prosecutorial and public defense experience,” as well as the firm’s strength in antitrust and trade secrets cases, consumer class actions, and securities and shareholder disputes.
Less than a year after receiving an award from Chambers for “Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession,” Founding Partner Beth A. Wilkinson was once again named a national Star Trial Lawyer. She was also recognized as a Star Attorney in the General Commercial Litigation Category for the District of Columbia and received similar recognition for Product Liability and Mass Torts nationwide. Chambers highlighted Beth’s reputation as “one of the top trial lawyers in the country” for her deft handling of a wide array of cases, including securities, product liability, white-collar criminal and complex commercial matters. Sources agree that she is “a go-to person for any trial you could have.” Chambers also described Beth as “the best litigator in the DC market, period.”
Founding Partner Alexandra Walsh received Band 1 honors in the General Litigation category of the District of Columbia and Band 5 honors in Product Liability & Mass Torts, after a year in which she won a complete defense verdict in a $600 million certified consumer class action lawsuit and served as national trial counsel in a major products liability mass tort proceeding in California. Chambers described Alexandra as “very impressive,” singling out her specialization in major litigation and trial work and her aptitude for defending clients against class action claims and consumer product and antitrust cases.
Chambers also named Founding Partner Brian L. Stekloff as an up-and-coming attorney in Product Liability & Mass Torts. This marks Brian’s first individual recognition by Chambers and Partners. Within the last two years, Brian has served as lead trial counsel in several major bellwether products liability trials, and won the first-ever jury verdict for Bayer in the Xarelto mass tort proceedings in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Chambers noted Brian’s increasingly significant reputation as trial lawyer across a number of mass torts, describing him as “a tremendous lawyer” who is “instrumental in getting favorable results.”
Founded in February 2016, Wilkinson Stekloff has grown to nearly 40 lawyers and has quickly established itself as the leading trial boutique firm in the country. The firm has tried over a dozen cases to verdict across the country, winning the vast majority, and has won several other pre-trial victories in bet-the-company cases.
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