William K. Phillips is a New York employment discrimination attorney and is the Managing Partner of Phillips & Associates. His law firm Phillips & Associates has handled thousands of employment cases including, sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, race discrimination, disability discrimination, and other employment law cases.
He was selected as a 2017 and 2018 “Top 100 Labor & Employment Lawyer in New York” by the American Society of Legal Advocates, one of the “10 Best Labor and Employment Attorneys in New York” by the American Institute of Legal Counsel and was recently selected as a member “Lawyers of Distinction” in Employment and Labor Law. Mr. Phillips is also a member of the “Million Dollar Advocates Forum”. The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements.
Recognized as a stellar employment lawyer by his peers, he also serves in an “Of Counsel” capacity to other law firms, providing litigation supervision in connection with their employment law cases. He works hard to obtain the best possible results for his clients and has had great success in securing millions of dollars in damages and settlement awards.
Mr. Phillips has strong roots in New York. He was born in Brooklyn and attended the College of Staten Island, graduating magna cum laude with a B.A. in sociology and anthropology. He studied entertainment law and landlord-tenant law at New York Law School and graduated from St. Thomas School of Law in Miami in 1993.
Mr. Phillips was admitted to the New York Bar in 1996. He is admitted to practice in the federal courts for the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York, the Western District of New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Before focusing on employment law, Mr. Phillips gained experience in business and other areas, giving him a valuable frame of reference from which to analyze the industries in which his clients and their employers work. From 2006-2010, he served as the Principal of Real Estate Development at TPG Design. There he was responsible for the creation, management, and development of real estate projects. In recent years, he has purchased and sold over $17 million of property for his own account.
Before his work in real estate development, Mr. Phillips served as Vice President of the Fieldstone Private Capital Group, a boutique investment bank in New York. There he was responsible for originating and executing all investment banking mandates, managing a portfolio of aircraft assets, negotiating with airlines regarding early terminations, and defaults, and working with assets subject to bankruptcies, litigation, and repossession. His professional accomplishments while in this position include the 10 million sales of a Turkish charter airline; a $24 million sell-side advisory for the sale of a British entity’s U.S. Airport Services division; global placement of over 30 Boeing and Airbus aircraft for sale and/or lease; and the restructuring of 26 MD-80 aircraft resulting in a 60% rent reduction and $16 million in debt forgiveness, with the structuring of $10 million in debt, for a U.S. airline. Prior to this experience, Mr. Phillips served as the business development director for a bar exam review company in New York, and also as a professional model in Europe and the U.S.
Mr. Phillips is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Employment Lawyers Association (“NELA”), and the American Society of Legal Advocates. He is also active in his local legal community, with memberships in the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, New York County Lawyers Association, Brooklyn Bar Association, and the New York Chapter of NELA.
In addition to his passion for employment law, Mr. Phillips is a benefactor of the arts and education, supporting various organizations. He enjoys weight training, swimming, tennis, basketball, boxing, and racquetball. He is also a published fashion and portrait photographer.