Left to right: Beth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz and Brett Kavanaugh

While the legal world and beyond on Monday buzzed with news that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had retained Beth Wilkinson, the star litigator was 3,000 miles from Washington.

The Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz founder spent much of the day in the fourth-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California. It was Day 5 of a 10-day bench trial, and Wilkinson is lead counsel to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, fending off an antitrust suit that challenges limits on compensating student-athletes.

It's not exactly a minor matter—suggesting that whatever work she might be doing for Kavanaugh is of limited scope. Even Beth Wilkinson only has 24 hours in a day.

CNN on Monday citing “multiple sources” broke the news that Kavanaugh, who has been accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault at a party more than 30 years ago, had hired Wilkinson.

Crazy coincidence—the last I heard, Wilkinson is married to David Gregory, who is a political analyst at CNN. Oh and guess who officiated? That would be Merrick Garland.

A firm spokesman declined comment and Wilkinson did not respond to a request for comment.

The network also reported that Kavanaugh spent nine hours at the White House on Monday, “huddling behind closed doors with his confirmation team.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing on Monday, with both Kavanaugh and Ford testifying.

Kavanaugh has adamantly denied the assault allegations, but he still needs to be careful about what he says to the committee—and how he says it. Presumably that's where Wilkinson or other legal advisers come in.

If he was somehow caught in a lie—say, if someone dug up an old photo of Kavanaugh and Ford at the party, or alleged witness Mark Judge regains his memory and contradicts Kavanaugh's story—it would almost certainly prove fatal to his nomination, and perhaps even his seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

But perjury is not the only danger, or even the most likely. Kavanaugh is no Trump, and the testimony will probably come down to he said/ she said.

Instead, the biggest task may be to calibrate what he says to strike the right tone. Indignant but not defensive? Respectful but not weak? Puzzled that his accuser could be so wrong without coming across as patronizing or condescending? A trial pro like Wilkinson would know just how to prep him.

Granted, hiring her did entail a bit of a PR hit—the optics of lawyering up are not great.

Multiple peanut gallery comments on Twitter echoed this one from @redhotnerd: “Hiring Beth Wilkinson is as good as him saying 'I've assaulted a lot of women.' You don't hire her if you're innocent, not what she does.” Or this one from @hemium: “Why do you think Kavanaugh hired esteemed Lawyer Beth Wilkinson? Kind of a strange thing to do if he didn't do it, don't ya think?” 

In fact, that Kavanaugh recognized the need to hire Wilkinson only attests to his legal acumen.

I don't mean that as a compliment, but as a simple observation.

I think it's a safe bet that women will be most troubled by Ford's allegations—and speaking as a woman of that generation, what she described sounds all-too-plausible. To us, sexual assault was what happened if a stranger grabbed you in a parking lot, not what drunk boys did at a party. I don't find it at all surprising that if what she said is true, she didn't report it at the time.

But that doesn't mean it's OK.

And so it makes perfect (cynical) sense to me that Kavanaugh would now hire not just a litigator, but arguably the best woman litigator around, as his coach. Of course he would.

It's a job that's definitely outside the White House legal team's wheelhouse. Besides, would you want to leave your fate to that bunch if you could have Beth Wilkinson on retainer?

See also Confirmation in Turmoil, Kavanaugh and His Accuser Will Testify at Public Hearing

Lawyers Who Guided Anita Hill Offer Advice to Kavanaugh's Accuser

Kavanaugh, Amid Sexual Assault Claim, Reportedly Hires Beth Wilkinson

 

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