Kessler Named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer

Winston & Strawn Co-Executive Chairman and Sports Law Practice Co-Chair Jeffrey Kessler, has been named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer.

Jeffrey led a Winston team that scored a historic victory on March 8, 2019, when Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and 11 of its member conferences violated federal antitrust law by placing an arbitrary limit on the amount of compensation that college football and basketball players may receive.

Sports Illustrated described the case as “groundbreaking and disruptive” and “poised to reshape big-time college sports.”

This is the third time in five years that Jeffrey has received this honor. In 2018, he was named “Litigator of the Week” following a huge victory for Panasonic when the Northern District of California refused—for the second time—to certify a class of consumers alleging that Panasonic conspired with other manufacturers to fix the price of lithium ion battery cells. He was also named “Litigator of the Week” in 2015 for his win in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) in the so-called “Deflategate” case.

Litigator of the Week: Winston’s Jeffrey Kessler Scores for College Athletes