District of Columbia

Firm overview

Wilkinson Stekloff is the leading trial litigation boutique in the country, demonstrating a depth of talent and skill unmatched by firms of any size. Described by The American Lawyer as “the legal equivalent of an elite special ops unit,” the firm is at the forefront of the most significant litigation shaping the industry today, from landmark, precedent-setting antitrust cases to bellwether products liability trials. Fortune 500 chief executives and general counsel turn to Wilkinson Stekloff for strategic guidance, courtroom expertise, and an unparalleled track record in the most high-profile, high-stakes disputes. The firm’s clients have included heavy-hitters across a wide range of industries, such as Allergan, Altria, Amazon, Bayer, Cargill, ExxonMobil, Facebook, FedEx, Georgia-Pacific, Glenmark, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Medtronic, Microsoft, Monsanto, the NCAA, the NFL, Pfizer, SAP, Valve, and Visa — all of which have come to rely on Wilkinson Stekloff as a go-to trial firm that can handle their toughest cases.

What makes Wilkinson Stekloff unique?

The firm’s innovative business model and mission set Beth Wilkinson, Brian Stekloff, and their team apart from other trial practice groups. The firm offers fixed-fee arrangements for all cases, giving clients certainty around their budgets even in the most contentious trials. And because clients know they will pay the same fee no matter the size of the team, the firm can employ its depth of talent in all key events — depositions, strategy sessions, and court hearings — without affecting clients’ bottom line.

The firm views it as critical not just to hire outstanding attorneys, but to give them meaningful trial experience and client exposure. This is deliberate, as it supports the firm’s overall mission — to develop the next generation of trial lawyers. And this mission sets Wilkinson Stekloff apart from all trial practice groups. At Wilkinson Stekloff, the vast majority of associates have worked on at least one trial, and those who have been with the firm for years are veterans of many trials in jurisdictions across the country.

The firm prides itself on providing unmatched pro bono representation as well, covering trials, appeals, class actions, and strategic counseling. Wilkinson Stekloff has handled more than 100 pro bono matters since its founding in 2016, with nearly all of the firm’s attorneys devoting significant time to those matters, and the firm’s brightest young talent winning trials in leadership roles.

Latest Results 

Wilkinson Stekloff achieved headline-making results in 2023 for Microsoft in the second-largest merger trial in American history over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The firm defeated 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. Wilkinson Stekloff directed all aspects of litigation strategy from the time the acquisition was announced, positioning the case for a federal court victory on an unprecedented timeline. In May 2025, the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the district court’s decision, and the FTC then dismissed its administrative complaint entirely. That trial marked the firm’s second major win against the FTC, the first being for Altria in an antitrust challenge to the company’s $12.8 billion minority investment in JUUL. Wilkinson Stekloff won in front of the FTC’s Administrative Law Judge, ultimately leading the FTC to dismiss its case. Most recently, the firm successfully positioned Hewlett Packard Enterprise to close its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, defending against the DOJ’s antitrust challenge in federal court, securing a resolution just days before trial was set to begin.

Wilkinson Stekloff obtained a major victory in 2024 for the NFL and its 32 member teams when a California federal judge granted their post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law, overturning a jury’s earlier $4.7 billion verdict in a class action lawsuit challenging the League’s collective licensing of broadcast rights to NFL games. In June 2025, the firm also secured final approval of the groundbreaking and highly publicized settlement of major antitrust lawsuits filed against the NCAA and its five athletic conferences by current and former student-athletes pertaining to use of their name, image, and likeness. 

Other representative matters include:

• Clark v. Monsanto Company, et al. After just a day of deliberation, won the first-ever jury verdict for Monsanto in litigation over claims that the herbicide Roundup causes Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Clark was the fourth case in this mass tort to go to trial, with the three previous trials resulting in verdicts against Monsanto ranging from $81 million to over $2 billion. 
  
  
• Farar, et al. v. Bayer AG, et al. Won an outright defense verdict in a multi-state class action trial involving One A Day vitamins. Plaintiffs alleged that Bayer made false, misleading, and deceptive statements about One A Day. At trial, based on devastating cross-examinations by Wilkinson Stekloff’s attorneys, the defense rested without calling a single witness. After just over an hour of deliberation, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.
  
  
• In the Matter of Altria Group, Inc. and JUUL Labs, Inc. Secured an unprecedented dismissal of antitrust claims from the FTC over Altria’s $12.8 billion minority investment in Juul. Following a month-long administrative trial, in February 2022 the Commission’s own Chief Administrative Law Judge dismissed the claims in their entirety. Although the matter was appealed, the FTC ultimately dismissed its complaint in June 2023.
  
  
• In re Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation. Won five bellwether trials on behalf of Bayer in mass tort proceedings involving the blood thinner Xarelto, defeating Plaintiffs’ claims that Bayer failed to adequately warn doctors about associated risks. In the first two federal trials, juries returned unanimous defense verdicts after only hours of deliberations. Then, in three state court trials, the firm secured two defense verdicts and a judgment notwithstanding an adverse verdict in a third case.

Accolades

Achieving this many successes with a firm of just 40 attorneys has led to multiple accolades for Wilkinson Stekloff and its attorneys, including national rankings by leading publications Benchmark Litigation, Chambers & Partners, and Legal 500. Most recently, Wilkinson Stekloff was selected as “Trial Firm of the Year” by Benchmark for a second consecutive year and “National Boutique of the Year” by The American Lawyer, named a “Practice Group of the Year” by Law360 in the competition category, and received “Matter of the Year” awards for the Microsoft/Activision deal from both Benchmark and Global Competition Review.

Clients, colleagues, and competitors acknowledge that, lawyer for lawyer and matter for matter, Wilkinson Stekloff is a litigation juggernaut poised to continue its success for years to come.

Updated Sep 2025

Firm overview

Williams & Connolly is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier litigation firms. Our lawyers routinely handle significant and complex civil, criminal, and administrative cases across the United States and around the globe. The firm maintains a strong tradition of hiring the best and the brightest and training and promoting its lawyers from within, producing closely knit and collaborative teams dedicated to achieving successful outcomes for our clients. 

The firm was founded in 1967 by legendary trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams. In the tradition of our founder, we share a passionate and principled dedication to excellence and success in all that we do. Over the last five decades, many of the world’s most prominent organizations and individuals have trusted us with their most important and complex litigation, investigation, and arbitration matters.

The firm’s clients include major global companies from virtually every sector, including Pfizer, Disney, Samsung, Intel, Bank of America, Google, The Carlyle Group, Medtronic, AstraZeneca, Genentech, Eli Lilly, 21st Century Fox, and HSBC. In addition, our lawyers have represented numerous law and accounting firms in professional liability and other matters, one reason why the Washington Post has recognized Williams & Connolly as the firm that other professional firms “turn to when they’re in trouble.”

The firm’s robust intellectual property practice successfully represents clients in patent litigation matters worth billions of dollars. In the healthcare and consumer industries, Williams & Connolly serves as national coordinating, trial, and/or resolution counsel for major pharmaceutical, medical device, pharmacy, technology, and consumer products companies in mass torts, multi-district litigation, and class actions. Our lawyers litigate cross-border commercial and other disputes in wide-ranging international litigation and arbitrations. We have handled many of the most complex corporate, financial, and securities disputes stemming from the global financial crisis. We represent companies and individuals in government investigations and prosecutions of all types, including allegations of fraud, corruption, and FCPA violations. Our lawyers also regularly appear before the Supreme Court and state and federal courts of appeals.

Known for our ability to take cases to trial, and the deep bench of lawyers at the firm who have tried civil and criminal matters in courts across the country and internationally, Williams & Connolly is described by Chambers USA as “offering unmatched strength in depth and top-level trial capabilities,” and “[a] class act: a delight to litigate with, and fearsome to litigate against.” In addition, Washingtonian magazine has highlighted the firm’s “uncompromising emphasis on victory.”

Our distinctive approach to litigation has earned the firm top marks from leading publications and ranking services, such as Chambers, Legal 500, The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, and Benchmark Litigation, both for overall litigation prowess as well as for many practice- or industry-specific types of litigation. We hire the top graduates from the best law schools and provide a collaborative training ground for young litigators, providing clients with the highest-quality representation at every level of seniority and with a cohesive team always working to advance their interests. Vault has ranked Williams & Connolly as one of the top law firms for selectivity, partner-associate relations, career outlook, satisfaction, quality of work, and business outlook.  Williams & Connolly maintains a nearly one-to-one partner-to-associate ratio, ensuring that matters are leanly staffed and that our associates gain significant hands-on experience. Our approach to hiring and advancement from within fosters a unique culture that focuses on teamwork, preparation, and tenacity designed to deliver results.

Firm overview

Who We Are: Founded in October 2018, Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP (RJLF) entered the market as a trial boutique with national reach and a bold ambition to create a new standard for litigation firms. Focusing on high-stakes commercial litigation, intellectual property, and white collar disputes, the firm made national headlines for breaking away from many law firm traditions.  RJLF reinvented the practice of law without the billable hour in favor of fee arrangements that align with client interests. The firm also eliminated two other standard law firm features – the partnership track and lockstep compensation – replacing them with systems that encourage attorneys to advance as quickly as their skills allow. Committed to attracting and retaining top talent, RJLF pays above market.

Diversity is one of RJLF’s founding principles. We believe our diverse talent brings a variety of thoughts, experiences, and perspectives that inevitably improve decision making and communication with our clients, judges, and juries. The firm is majority women-owned and 30% of our firm’s lawyers are racially and/or LGBTQ+ diverse. As part of the firm’s commitment to diversity, RJLF has achieved Mansfield Certification “Plus” status by Diversity Lab. This signifies not only our adherence to the program’s consideration and transparency standards, but also that we have attained 30% representation of historically underrepresented lawyers in our current leadership roles and pathway activities.

RJLF has been recognized as a “Top Trial Boutique” and awarded “Silicon Valley Firm of the Year” for three consecutive years by Benchmark Litigation and named an “Elite Boutique” by The National Law Journal.

Elite Talent Wins Cases: RJLF’s break from industry traditions obviously resonated with the market, as the firm’s size quickly expanded with marquee talent from several esteemed “Big Law” firms such as Finnegan Henderson; Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Allen & Overy; Morgan Lewis, & Bockius; and White & Case LLP, among many others.

Our attorneys are from the most prestigious clerkships, including the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, the 2nd, 6th, 7th, and 11th Circuits, and District Courts around the country, as well as prestigious law schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, NYU, and others.
The firm’s lawyers have undergraduate and advanced technical degrees in diverse fields including electrical engineering, physics, computer science, computer networks, and biotechnology. RJLF’s lawyers have also been recognized as among the most accomplished trial lawyers by The American College of Trial Lawyers, Chambers USA, The Legal 500, The National Law Journal, and Managing IP, among many others.

Recent Achievements: Punching well above its weight, RJLF often goes toe-to-toe with some of the largest law firms in the world, including Skadden Arps, Morrison & Foerster, Gibson Dunn, and Baker Hostetler, among others. Highlights of the firm’s trial prowess and recent significant wins include:

Commercial Litigation: RJLF secured a precedent-setting victory on behalf of the CRA in the “gas ban on stoves” case against the City of Berkeley. The Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court’s ruling and held that Berkeley’s ban on natural gas hook-ups is preempted by federal law and therefore invalid. The case garnered extensive national attention from major news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Reuters, among others.

Intellectual Property Litigation: RJLF won a landmark $673 million award for Kove IO in a patent infringement case against Amazon Web Services, which involved cloud storage technology. The court upheld a $525 million verdict and added $148 million in interest during post-trial motions. This victory was the largest surviving patent win of 2024, ranked as the ninth highest in the past decade, and recognized as a Top 100 Verdict of 2024 by Law.com’s VerdictSearch.

White Collar Litigation: In an ultrarare price-fixing trial against the Department of Justice (DOJ), the RJLF trial team secured a complete defence verdict after two mistrials. The case stemmed from a high-profile grand jury indictment by the DOJ that charged 10 executives, including RJLF client Roger Austin, a former Vice President of Pilgrim’s Pride, alleging a price-fixing scheme in the $28 billion-per-year broiler chicken industry. The trial win earned the team Global Competition Review’s 2023 Behavioural Matter of the Year (Americas).

Pro Bono: RJLF is deeply committed to public interest litigation. We understand that our privilege of being trial lawyers naturally involves representing those in need, whether it’s high-profile impact litigation or a person who will be evicted from an apartment. We also collaborate and work side-by- side with our clients to develop targeted pro bono and community service programs. Our pro bono activities include handling cases involving civil rights, immigration, prison abuse, indigent defence, homelessness, and veterans’ issues, among others. The firm was honored by The Legal Aid Society as a recipient of the 2025 Pro Bono Publico Awards for its outstanding service to the organization and its clients.

Updated Oct 2025

Firm overview

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provides the highest quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. The results the firm achieves have set it apart for more than 140 years and have become a model for the modern practice of law. Today, S&C is a leader in each of its core practice areas and in each of its geographic markets. The firm advises a diverse range of clients on major domestic and cross-border M&A and corporate finance transactions, high-stakes litigation and corporate investigations and complex regulatory, tax and estate planning matters. Headquartered in New York, S&C comprises more than 875 lawyers who serve clients around the world through a network of 13 offices, located in leading financial centers in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

Main Areas of Practice:

Antitrust: Sullivan & Cromwell represents clients across a broad array of industries and in multiple jurisdictions in merger clearances, criminal antitrust investigations and civil litigation. The firm handles merger clearances for some of the largest and most complex M&A transactions in the world. 

Capital Markets: S&C leads global rankings in both volume and value of offerings and on its ability to structure novel and effective transactions in the representation of issuers, underwriters, selling and controlling shareholders, and other market participants globally.

Corporate Governance: S&C’s corporate governance practice draws from across the firm’s preeminent practice areas for a thorough understanding of evolving corporate governance requirements and practices. 

Estates & Personal: S&C provides comprehensive and customized service to individuals, families, trustees and charitable institutions on a range of sensitive business and personal affairs. The practice includes all aspects of non-US and US transactional matters, and cross-border trusts and estates litigation.

Executive Compensation/ERISA: S&C advises on a full range of corporate, securities, tax and employment law matters. The firm’s lawyers represent many of the largest global companies on employment arrangements, corporate governance, succession matters and incentive compensation plan design, as well as senior executives in negotiations.

Financial Services: S&C remains the leading global law firm on transactional, regulatory, enforcement and other matters affecting financial institutions. The firm’s expertise extends to clients in the banking; broker-dealer; commodities; futures and derivatives; insurance; and investment management sectors. 

Intellectual Property & Technology: S&C assists clients globally with the full spectrum of intellectual property and technology issues, including in significant M&A transactions, complex patent and other IP disputes, as well as in licensing matters.

Investment Management: S&C combines a traditional investment management and an alternative investment management practice to provide expertise in transactional, structuring, trading, advisory and regulatory matters. 

Litigation: S&C’s litigators take a global, multidisciplinary approach to every aspect of litigation and regulatory matters, making it the go-to firm for cross-border litigation, a practice strengthened by S&C’s stellar reputation as a corporate, financial and transactional firm.

Mergers & Acquisitions: S&C mobilizes teams of lawyers worldwide for clients
on their largest and most important domestic and cross-border M&A transactions.
A perennial leader in M&A, S&C ranks first by value among law firms over the last 20 years, having acted in over $9 trillion in announced transactions worldwide.

Private Equity: S&C’s private equity practice draws upon the integrated resources and efforts of S&C offices around the world, taking advantage of the firm’s preeminent global capabilities to advise private equity firms, family offices, sovereign wealth funds and other investors of private capital on their most important and complex acquisitions, strategic investments and exits, across a broad range of industries.

Project Development & Finance; Infrastructure: S&C is a leader in project and infrastructure development and finance. The firm has advised on many of the most transformative and complex projects and financings in both developed and emerging markets, including advising clients in joint venture arrangements, M&A, restructurings and public-private partnerships.

Real Estate: S&C’s real estate group combines public/private market expertise and innovative deal-making skills to assist clients in purchasing, selling, developing and financing real estate companies and assets worldwide, and represents clients in restructuring real estate and other assets to facilitate generational transition and/or resolve disputes. 

Restructuring & Bankruptcy: S&C is unique in its ability to handle all elements of a corporate restructuring—whether or not an insolvency proceeding is used as a tool.

Tax: S&C’s tax group has a global reputation for innovative tax planning, the successful resolution of tax controversies and providing pivotal tax advice on corporate transactions.

Updated September 2024