Kavanaugh’s famous lawyer has a Tri-City connection

U.S. Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s personal lawyer, who’s appearing on news networks defending him during his confirmation process to the U.S. Supreme Court, has a connection to the Tri-Cities.

Beth Wilkinson, a founding member of law firm Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz, has taken on domestic terrorists and pursued international despots during her time as a lawyer, according to bios from her law firm and on the internet.

She also went to Princeton University, served in the Army and racked up a number of awards and honors, according to her law firm and a biography from Princeton.

Her parents also happened to spend some time living in the Horn Rapids area of Richland.

A 2000 wedding announcement in the New York Times for Wilkinson and her husband, TV newsman David Gregory, mentions Wilkinson’s father Robert Wilkinson.

“Her father, a retired Navy submarine captain, is the director of the nuclear spent-fuel project in Hanford, Wash.,” the announcement says.

Benton County property records show that Robert and his wife Judith Wilkinson owned a house on Hawkstone Court in north Richland from 1998-2004.

By the time Robert and Judith Wilkinson had bought their house in the Tri-Cities, Beth Wilkinson had already helped convict Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City bombing trials, according to news stories of the trial in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

She later went on to work for government mortgage giant Fannie Mae, according to Daily Kos, and then into private practice before she formed her own firm, according to the New York Times.

This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 12:50 PM.