Position: Partner

TEL: 202-223-7300

FAX: 202-223-7420

Email: Click Here

Website: www.paulweiss.com

Admitted: 1988, New York; 1999, District of Columbia

Law School: University of Virginia, J.D., 1987.

College: Princeton University, B.A., 1984.

Birth Date and Place: 

Practice Areas: Products Liability Defense; Securities Litigation; White Collar Criminal Defense; Internal Investigations

Additional Information: A partner in the Litigation Department, Beth A. Wilkinson focuses her practice on general litigation, and has built a reputation as one of the country's most talented and respected litigators. She has amassed a broad range of experience from the courtroom to the boardroom, with particular emphasis in white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations and complex civil litigation. She has defended Fortune 500 companies in some of the most business-critical litigations in recent memory. She successfully prosecuted criminals in trials that have defined the meaning of "high-profile." After prosecuting U.S. v. McVeigh & Nichols, she became the only two-time recipient of the Department of Justice’s highest award. Ms. Wilkinson joined Paul, Weiss after serving as the executive vice-president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at Fannie Mae. Prior to her in-house position at the mortgage giant, Ms. Wilkinson spent eight years as co-chair of the white-collar crime practice group in a major Washington law firm. There she represented some of the world's most prominent companies in bet-the-company civil and criminal litigation, winning two decisive jury defense verdicts for Philip Morris USA as the company faced down a plaintiff attorney who had obtained billion dollar judgments in prior jury verdicts against the tobacco giant. Ms. Wilkinson won praise from journalists and industry insiders alike for her extraordinary trial wins. Other representations featured work for other Fortune 500 companies such as the Board of Directors of the Ford Motor Company, and HCA, the largest healthcare company in the United States. She also represented the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in a government investigation of its bid selection process for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Prior to private practice, Ms. Wilkinson was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where she prosecuted numerous cases. In 1995, she was a counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, the principal deputy of the Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, when she was asked to be a special attorney to the U.S. attorney general in U.S. v. McVeigh and Nichols. Ms. Wilkinson was instrumental in securing the final verdicts against the two men, delivering the closing arguments that resulted in a death sentence for McVeigh, and the summation that led to the conviction of Nichols. Her work has garnered her national recognition, and her opinions are sought by numerous television news programs and respected magazines and journals. Her insights have been sought by any number of high-profile television programs, such as NBC's Today show, Nightline, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Face the Nation and Good Morning America, and a variety of magazines and journals including The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and the Legal Times. In 2010 she was named as one of The National Law Journal's "Winning" litigators for her victory for Pfizer Inc. in a lawsuit relating to the hormone replacement therapy drug Prempro and as one of "Washington’s Most Influential Women Lawyers" by the same publication. Additionally, she is recognized by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in white collar crime and government investigations law. Throughout her career, she has earned a reputation as a litigator of great skill and intelligence: One impressed juror characterized her as a "fearless combatant" and, in a news profile, a law professor said "I've never seen a lawyer handle complex scientific evidence the way she does. She has a real gift." Ms. Wilkinson's legal career began in the U.S. Army, where she attained the rank of captain and served as an assistant to the general counsel of the Army for Intelligence & Special Operations from 1987 to 1991. In 1990, she was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida to assist with the prosecution of U.S. v. Manuel Noriega. Ms. Wilkinson is active in a variety of pro bono and community activities as a member of the board of directors of Equal Justice Works. She has been particularly active in the death penalty reform movement, serving as the co-chairman of the Constitution Project's Death Penalty Initiative. Ms. Wilkinson has testified before both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on death penalty issues and speaks frequently to groups around the country about her work on the McVeigh trial and issues surrounding the imposition of the death penalty.

MoreLaw Reported Cases:

Sharon Buxton and Joy Henry v. Pfizer, Inc.

Firm Members: Kenneth Gallo

Firm Members: Alex Oh

Firm Members: Jessica Philllips