Rakesh has substantial experience litigating complex matters in trial and appellate courts throughout the country, successfully resolving some of the biggest antitrust matters in history over the past several years. Those include obtaining full judgment for the NFL in post-trial proceedings in a $21 billion challenge to the NFL’s media model, defeating the FTC’s challenge to Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and negotiating a groundbreaking and innovative settlement to end decades of litigation over the NCAA’s compensation rules.
Beyond antitrust, Rakesh has helped deliver high-profile victories to clients in a wide array of industries and subject matter areas, including defamation, financial services, products liability, and has served as lead or co-lead counsel in over a dozen class actions or MDLs.
In recognition of his diverse practice, Rakesh is ranked by Chambers and Partners and recommended by Legal 500 in both sports and antitrust law. He has been selected as a “Winning Litigator” and “Rising Star” by the National Law Journal and named a Sports and Betting “MVP” and “Rising Star” by Law360. He was also chosen as one of Bloomberg Law’s “40 Under 40,” and Benchmark Litigation has identified him as a “Litigation Star” and selected him to its “40 & Under Hotlist” five years in a row.
Before joining the firm, Rakesh was a Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel, where he provided legal advice and strategic counseling to the Obama Administration on its domestic policy agenda. He also helped to develop and implement the government’s litigation strategy in cases arising under the Affordable Care Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Rakesh began his career by clerking for Justice Elena Kagan on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Rakesh’s other notable representations include:
Won dismissal of all claims in Chalmers, et al. v. NCAA, et al., an antirust matter filed in the Southern District of New York against the NCAA and six major athletic conferences, seeking damages for the purported misuse of former student-athletes’ NIL on behalf of a sprawling nationwide class dating back more than 40 years. Rakesh represented the NCAA and led the joint defense group, including directing the motion to dismiss briefing and arguing for dismissal before the court. Based on the precedent set, dismissal was also granted in additional cases led by Rakesh, including Pryor, et al. v. NCAA, et al. (S.D. Ohio) and Bailey, et al. v. NCAA. (N.C. Super. Ct.).
Directed legal strategy for Bayer Corp. in Cooney v. Janssen, tried in August 2018, before the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in the national products liability litigation challenging the warnings that accompany Bayer Corporation’s market-leading blood thinner, Xarelto. Rakesh obtained summary judgment on the plaintiff’s design defect claim prior to trial — the first summary judgment win for Defendants in the Xarelto litigation. Rakesh also argued dozens of evidentiary and legal motions throughout the trial on the remaining claim, as well as the jury charge, and helped obtain a complete defense verdict on the remaining failure to warn count after less than two hours of jury deliberation.
Updated Sep 2025