[2] He began his career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and previously was the global litigation chair at the international law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf.
He grew up in a community in Brooklyn near Coney Island, called "Sea Gate," with his parents and his older sister Linda.
He represented a number of U.S. and international companies in criminal and civil investigations in the antitrust and trade areas and was part of the team that successfully defended Matsushita Electric and JVC against claims of a worldwide conspiracy in the U.S. Supreme Court case Zenith v.
[5] In 2000, Kessler won a complete jury acquittal of his client Panasonic in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, in a case claiming over $1 billion in damages for an alleged fraud.
Dewey Ballantine later merged with the law firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and Kessler became a senior partner at the newly formed Dewey & LeBoeuf, where he became chairman of the firm's global litigation department, co-chairman of the sports litigation practice group, and a member of its executive and leadership committees.
[13] Both runners were successfully represented by Kessler and allowed to compete in the Olympics despite challenges from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAFF).
On March 31, 2021, SCOTUS issued a unanimous decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston affirming the team's trial win.
[23] The win came in March 2019, when Judge Wilken found that the NCAA was in violation of the antitrust laws by limiting the amount of compensation that college basketball and football players could receive, and issued a trial ruling in favor of the plaintiff athlete classes.
[26] Kessler served as lead class counsel for U.S. Women's National Team players in their action against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) in their pay discrimination claim.
[29] In April 2023, the team secured dismissal with prejudice of the antitrust claims against Equity on the grounds that its conduct was protected from the Sherman Act by the Statutory Labor Exemption.
[32] The unanimous decision revived Relevant's antitrust litigation challenging a FIFA rule prohibiting official season professional soccer league games from being played outside of a team's or league's FIFA-designated country, and earned Jeffrey and his team a “Litigator of the Week” Runner-Up spot from The American Lawyer.
"[33] He represented New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in successfully contesting at district court a four-game suspension, imposed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in connection with the “Deflategate” controversy.