In the fall of 2016, David Lender and Eric Hochstadt stepped into the middle of a high-stakes antitrust case that the Weil, Gotshal & Manges partners could only describe as a “unicorn.”

Their client, C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc., was careening toward trial after more than seven years of litigation. At issue: allegations by a class of retail grocers that the New Hampshire-based grocery distributor had secretly conspired with a rival not to compete in the Midwest and New England states.