Activision lawsuit to be lead by Oklahoma City bombing prosecutor

Activision has hired a new point person for its legal battle with former Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vincent Zampella. Former lead Steven Marenberg has passed the reins to former U.S. assistant attorney Beth Wilkinson, perhaps best known for delivering the closing arguments for the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

The attorney that delivered the closing argument for the execution of Timothy McVeigh has been appointed by Activision to lead its legal battle with ex-Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vincent Zampella. The publisher told Polygon it has taken the reins from Steven Marenberg and passed them to former U.S. assistant attorney Beth Wilkinson.

What began as West, Zampella and dozens of other ex-Infinity Ward staffers suing for royalties they claimed were witheld by the company has evolved into a countersuit by Activision, which says that the developers had violated their employment contract.

The company declined to illuminate its reasoning for the switch, saying only "Activision has hired Beth Wilkinson to represent the company in the upcoming trial." Marenberg's firm Irell & Manella will remain on the legal team in some capacity, according to an L.A. Times report. The same report says that Wilkinson will likely ask for a month-long delay to the start of the trial, currently slated for May 29.

In addition to the Activision case, Wilkinson also represents the NFL, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and was recently retained by the Federal Trade Commission to head up an antitrust inquiry into Google.