Reese Marketos partners Josh Russ and Pete Marketos are among 25 top trial lawyers in the country recognized on Bloomberg Law’s 2026 “Unrivaled” list.
The second-annual list recognizes litigators who lead the legal profession in high-stakes trials and settlements, securing at least two verdicts or favorable settlements for clients between January 2024 and March 2026.
Bloomberg is recognizing Marketos and Russ for three major litigation wins that exceed $1.7 billion:
- A $150 million False Claims Act jury verdict they won against Johnson & Johnson in 2024 and grew to a historic $1.64 billion final judgment in March 2025;
- A $100 million eve-of-trial False Claims Act settlement with PharMerica that crossed the finish line in July 2024; and
- A $51.98 million bench trial win against Energy Transfer in a midstream energy dispute that stemmed from a pipeline explosion.
In all three cases, Marketos and Russ were brought in at critical moments: to try cases other firms had litigated for years.
Russ and Marketos, both based in Dallas, are among lawyers based in several other major legal markets, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Reese Marketos is one of 20 firms honored, which include Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn, and King & Spalding.
“This list isn’t about reputation or peer surveys – it’s about what actually happened in the courtroom,” said Reese Marketos managing partner Joel Reese. “Bloomberg looked at outcomes, and Pete and Josh’s results over the last 18 months speak for themselves. We built this firm on the belief that you don’t need a courtroom gallery full of lawyers to win the biggest cases; you need the right ones who are willing to try them.”
Marketos is a co-founding partner of the firm and one of most renowned trial lawyers in the U.S., known for his talent, precision, and results in bet-the-company cases. Russ leads the firm’s nationally recognized False Claims Act practice and previously served as Civil Chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.
The full list of Unrivaled honorees and their Q&As are available at bloomberglaw.com.
To view the firm’s Q&A with Bloomberg, please see the above PDF link.
About Reese Marketos LLP
Reese Marketos is a Dallas litigation-boutique that tries high-stakes cases other firms won’t. The firm exclusively represents whistleblowers in False Claims Act matters and represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial disputes, energy litigation, and intellectual property.