Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series

Carter G. Phillips
2009 Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecturer

2009 Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecturer

Carter G. Phillips
Managing Partner, Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin LLP

When: Thursday, April 2 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Lee Chapel

Carter G. Phillips is the Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin LLP, and is a member of the firm's Management Committee.  He is one of the foremost Supreme Court advocates in the country. 

Mr. Phillips served as a law clerk to Judge Robert Sprecher on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger on the United States Supreme Court.  He served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General during the Reagan Administration, arguing nine cases in the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government. 

Since joining Sidley Austin, Mr. Phillips has argued 56 cases in the Supreme Court, for a career total of 65 appearances, and has argued more than 65 cases in other appellate courts.  He argued on behalf of petitioner in eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, labeled "the most important issue of patent law to be decided by the Supreme Court in decades."  Mr. Phillips won a unanimous decision in that case.  In November of 2008, Mr. Phillips argued on behalf of respondent in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, challenging the FCC's fleeting expletives rule on administrative law and First Amendment grounds.  That case has not yet been decided. 

Mr. Phillips graduated summa cum laude from The Ohio State University in 1973 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.  He received his master's degree from Northwestern University in 1975.  In 1977, he graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.   He is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a member of the Federal Circuit Advisory Committee and was the Chair of the Committee from 2003-2005. He received the 2001 Rex Lee Advocacy Award, the Northwestern University Alumni Merit Award in 1998 and the Northwestern University Alumni Service Award in 2006. He is a member of the Economics Club of Washington, D.C., a trustee of the Federal City Council in Washington, a member (and former chairman) of the Dean's Advisory Committee of Northwestern University's School of Law and a member of the Advisory Committee of The Ohio State University Colleges of Arts and Sciences. He is a trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society and is on their Publications Committee; he is on the Amicus Curiae Committee of the Federal Bar Association. Mr. Phillips is also on the Board of Directors of the Institute of Judicial Administration at New York University School of Law and serves on the Advisory Committee of the Georgetown University Law Center's Supreme Court Institute. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law, teaching a clinic seminar on Supreme Court practice.

His practice has been featured in articles in the American Lawyer, Business Week, Legal Times, The National Law Journal, USA Today and Legal Business (a publication in England). Mr. Phillips was selected by the American Lawyer as a member of the "45 Under 45" in 1995 and as one of the 100 Best Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal.  Mr. Phillips was listed in the top band of litigators in Washington, D.C. by Chambers USA.  In 2006 the National Law Journal named Mr. Phillips one of the "Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" and was chosen its runner-up for its "Lawyer of the Year," saying that in 2006 he "became the 'go-to' attorney for corporations seeking Supreme Court relief, further elevating his stature within the small, but highly skilled, Supreme Court bar."