Jeffrey L Kessler

Practice Areas

Co-Executive Chairman of Winston & Strawn, Jeffrey Kessler is one of the world’s leading antitrust, sports law, and trial lawyers. He has served as lead counsel in some of the most complex antitrust, sports, and intellectual property litigations in the country, including major jury trials, and has represented a number of U.S. and international companies in criminal and civil investigations in the antitrust, sports law, trade, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) areas.

Jeffrey formerly served as the co-chair of Winston’s global Antitrust/Competition Practice and as the co-chair of the firm’s Sports Law Practice. Law360 recently named both practices as a “Practice Group of the Year” for their respective categories. He focuses his practice on all aspects of antitrust/competition, sports law, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property (IP), and government criminal and civil investigations. He has served as lead counsel in some of the most complex antitrust, sports law, and IP law cases in the country, including major jury trials, and has represented many U.S. and international companies in criminal and civil investigations in the antitrust, trade, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) areas. He successfully defended Matsushita and JVC against claims of a worldwide conspiracy in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Zenith v. Matsushita and is regarded universally as a leading commentator on international antitrust law. He has also been the lead counsel for important cases involving frontier issues of IP law and lead counsel in numerous government criminal and civil investigations. He is a member of the firm’s Videogame, Gaming, and Esports Group, which provides comprehensive legal solutions to companies in the sector.

Jeffrey is also one of the United States’ most prominent lawyers regularly engaged in high-profile sports litigation. He has litigated some of the most famous sports-antitrust cases in history, including the landmark college players-brought Alston v. NCAA case, in which, following Jeffrey’s oral argument, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed his and co-counsel’s earlier “groundbreaking and disruptive” trial victory against the NCAA in this antitrust challenge to its no-compensation rules; McNeil v. The NFL, the watershed antitrust jury trial that led to the establishment of free agency in the National Football League (NFL); and Brady v. NFL, which led to the end of the 2011 NFL lockout. Jeffrey’s sports sector clients have included the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the Arena Football League Players Association, the National Hockey League Players Association, the Major League Baseball Players Association, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), Wasserman Media Group, SCP Worldwide, MVP Sports, the U.S. Women’s National [Soccer] Team (USWNT), the NFL Coaches Association, the Women’s Tennis Benefit Association, Endeavor, Super Slam Ltd., Activision Blizzard, Adidas, Klutch Sports, and Players, Inc. Jeffrey has represented various classes of Division 1 college basketball and football players; other college athletes; elite swimmers; NBA, NFL, AFL, and MLS players; the North American Soccer League (NASL); the U.S. Football League; the Overwatch and Call of Duty Esports leagues; the Professional Bull Riders; Relevant Sports Agency, and the Cities of San Diego and Oakland, as well as Alameda County, in various sports law disputes. He negotiated the current free agency/salary cap systems in the NFL and NBA, and successfully represented Latrell Sprewell in his controversial suspension arbitration. In the area of NFL discipline, he represented the NFLPA on behalf of Ray Rice, Tom Brady (in “Deflategate”), Ezekiel Elliott, Adrian Peterson, and the “Bountygate” players. He represented pro bono Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee athlete, in his successful arbitration to obtain the right to compete against non-disabled athletes around the world. Recently, he achieved a landmark equal pay class action settlement for the members of the USWNT.

This impressive experience led Law360 to name Jeffrey as an MVP for Sports and Betting for four consecutive years (2018–2021). In March 2022 at the Benchmark Litigation East Coast Awards, Jeffrey was honored as the Antitrust Litigator of the Year, and the firm was recognized for its work on NCAA v. Alston, one of the National Impact Cases of the Year. And Jeffrey is part of the group recognized with GCR’s 2022 “Litigation of the Year: Cartel Prosecution” award.