Carter G. Phillips
Professional Achievement Award
B.A. Political Science, 1973
Carter G. Phillips has been recognized as one of the nation’s preeminent lawyers in legal circles and beyond. The publication Best Lawyers in America honored him in the specialty of appellate law this year. The National Law Journal named him one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America in 2006, and he was a runner-up for the journal’s Lawyer of the Year award in 2000 and 2006.
Phillips is managing partner of Sidley Austin’s office in Washington, D.C., and a member of the firm’s management and executive committees. During his tenure, the firm has grown to more than 1,700 lawyers in 16 offices throughout the world. Phillips is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, the premier professional associations for his specialties.
He has been featured in the popular press, in both Business Week and USA Today, and in professional publications such as the National Law Journal and Legal Times. He is a frequent commentator on the federal courts for National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and television talk shows. He has published more than 25 articles and book chapters.
“Equally impressive to me are Carter Phillips’ valuable contributions to his community and his university,” wrote Paul Allen Beck, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, in his nomination letter for Phillips. “His pro bono practice includes serving as principal outside counsel to the Spina Bifida Association, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the National Education Project. Carter has returned to Ohio State numerous times to talk with students in political science and law.”
After graduating from Ohio State, Phillips earned a master’s degree and a law degree from Northwestern University, where in 2006 he helped launch a Supreme Court clinic. Last year, Northwestern honored him with an Alumni Service Award.
Phillips has argued 54 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, including nine in the last two Supreme Court terms alone. He has also appeared in all but one of the federal courts of appeals. “He is universally regarded as a powerful advocate, and he enjoys the unqualified respect of the bench and bar for his exemplary professionalism,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in his nomination letter. “In every category that may be used to judge appellate advocacy—the ability to explain difficult ideas in understandable terms, thorough knowledge of the law and the relevant facts, quick thinking, candor, and fairness—Carter, I believe, would unquestionably be given the highest possible marks by the courts before which he has appeared and by his peers in the bar.”
Phillips has fond memories of Ohio State: “It was and is one of the most fundamental building blocks in my personal and professional life. Ohio State offered me a wonderful liberal arts education, but just as important, it taught me how to get along with an extraordinarily diverse group of people and to succeed in that environment. All that I do today is a reflection of my roots as a Buckeye.”
