Baltimore judge Kevin M. Wilson is facing an ethics hearing in May after a female lawyer accused him of inappropriate and unwelcome touching at a bar association event at the Maryland Club in May of last year. Thecomplaining victim says that when she stopped at a table where Wilson and another judge were seated, she felt Wilson’s hand rub her leg up and down. Two lawyers witnessed this, as well as hearing the complainant tell Wilson that his behavior was inappropriate. The judge moved his hand away, but then, also allegedly, put his hand back on the attorney’s leg, moved his hand up under her skirt, and touched her buttocks.

The event was called “Join Our District Court Judges for Practice Tips on Tap,” so I guess maybe Wilson was just…tapping. 

He is defending against the ethics charges by saying that he misinterpreted what he “genuinely perceived as reciprocal flirtation” and innocently had “a genuine belief that their interactions were mutual and welcomed” based on the judge and the lawyer “exchanging flirtatious glances.” Thus he thought he had received implied consent “to touch [the female lawyer’s] ankle, calf and lower hamstring.” Wilson denies fingering the woman’s gluteus maximus.

According to the judge, when he complimented the female lawyer’s shoes, she responded that she liked wearing “sexy heels.” He also claimed that after he answered a question at the event about his views on “loss of consortium” and said that in the only case involving the issue that he had presided over Wilson awarded a lot of money. The lawyer then, according to the judge, “said under her breath softly, ‘I would get a lot of money if I were in front of you…’ ”

And everyone knows this is code for “Rub your hand over my leg and under my skirt”….

Wilson now says he “sincerely apologizes and deeply regrets” his hands-on conduct that made the female lawyer feel uncomfortable. The judge says he is meeting with a counselor twice a month “to improve his interpersonal skills, better recognize power dynamics, and avoid similar situations in the future.”

Sexual harassment has been an accepted legal concept now for about 50 years. It is illegal in the workplace, and the workplace extends to work-related social events, like a bar association event. A judge should—must?—know that. Was Wilson asleep during Bill Clinton’s travails, the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and the excesses of the #MeToo mobs? Apparently so.

It constantly astounds me that so many accomplished, prominent men still think they are still living in the era of “Mad Men”and”How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying,” when the boss pinching, patting and feeling-up women in the workplace was considered harmless.

Judge Wilson is an idiot, and I hope the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities (what a great name!) throws the book at him.