Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Well, well, well… we meet again.” In addition to being hackneyed dialogue from a bad film noir homage, this must be what lawyers from Katz Marshall & Banks and Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz are thinking after the last 24 hours.
With Virginia Governor and award-winning moonwalker Ralph Northam facing calls to resign over his apparent affinity for blackface, all eyes turned to the state’s young rising star of a lieutenant governor and former Venable counsel Justin Fairfax. But before his ascendency could be complete, Professor Vanessa Tyson came forward with allegations of sexual assault against Fairfax. According to Tyson’s statement, she had a consensual romantic encounter with Fairfax that turned into non-consensual sexual assault. Fairfax brands the allegation false and defamatory and describes the underlying encounter as entirely consensual.
Professor Tyson has hired Katz Marshall & Banks to represent her in the matter, a firm that most of us last saw representing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in the Kavanaugh hearings, dutifully shepherding her through the traumatic experience of testifying about her attack to the Senate Judiciary Committee before the Senate ignored everything she said because a belligerent drunk told them to.
That’s when Fairfax went out and hired Beth Wilkinson to represent him. Wilkinson, of course, represented the aforementioned belligerent drunk, and while no one doubts Wilkinson’s skill generally, one probably should have pause before hiring anyone who allowed their client to deliver that unhinged rant on live television.
But more generally, Fairfax’s decision reveals the client’s dilemma between experience and optics. Wilkinson Walsh just successfully weathered allegations of sexual assault against a prominent public figure. And yet, hiring Wilkinson at this point draws parallels between Fairfax and Kavanaugh that the former probably doesn’t want. Indeed, Tyson hired Katz for the purpose of drawing that parallel — and that’s not meant cynically, it just makes sense for someone trying to lodge a complaint like this to align themselves with attorneys who’ve already shown credibility in that arena. But given Tyson’s choice, there are a lot of lawyers out there for Fairfax who are able to weather the public relations storm while capably litigating a defamation claim — maybe pick one that isn’t optically tied to one of the most notorious figures in American politics? Maybe?
Wilkinson Walsh Representing Justin Fairfax as Accuser Describes Alleged Assault [National Law Journal]
Va. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax’s accuser goes to firm that represented Christine Blasey Ford [USA Today]
Kavanaugh Hearing Attorneys Clash Again In Virginia Lt. Governor Case curated from Above the Law
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