Famed litigator Beth Wilkinson left Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP to launch her own boutique with two other attorneys. The trio will have offices in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Wilkinson was the prosecutor in the federal case against Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City Bomber. He was found guilty and executed by lethal injection in 2001. She also recently defended Pfizer, Altria and Kynetic and won their trials. In December, she was named Litigator of the Year by The American Lawyer.
MLB’s lead attorney in the Garber case, Beth Wilkinson, was named litigator of the year in 2015 by American Lawyer: https://t.co/Goz6DAHIjq
— Nathaniel Grow (@NathanielGrow) January 18, 2016
Wilkinson will partner with Alexandra Walsh, also of Paul Weiss, and Sean Eskovitz of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. The firm will be called Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz and their focus will be trials.
“I don’t even want to call it a litigation boutique, because our real strength is trials,” Wilkinson told The Wall Street Journal.
The firm is launching with clients such as Pfizer, the National Football League and Major League Baseball. Wilkinson said they already have six trials scheduled for the year.
Wilkinson said what will make her firm different from others is that they will try to stay away from billable hours, which is a Biglaw staple. Instead, she will favor flat fees and other incentives. In turn, associates at her firm will not be compensated by how many hours they work.
In addition to the name partners, the firm will include Brian Stekloff from Covington & Burling LLP, Brant Bishop from Kirkland & Ellis and Eric Liebeler, the former head of litigation at Siemens Corp. Liebeler will be the firm’s managing partner.
On Wednesday, Wilkinson’s husband, journalist David Gregory, tweeted his support of his wife and her new firm.
Really excited for my wife Beth, and I’m cheering on Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz https://t.co/WuQysGwpwQ — David Gregory (@davidgregory) January 20, 2016
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Photo credit: Marissa Rauch Photography via Twitter
