A Cal Berkeley law graduate and former O’Melveny & Myers associate, Phillips co-founded CLIPI. He played the pivotal role in bringing together the once‑in‑a‑lifetime environmental justice settlement in the massive Century Freeway litigation, including the redesign of the freeway to include the transit line that launched LA’s metro system, the construction of several thousands of affordable housing units to replace housing lost to freeway construction, and an extensive jobs and business opportunities program for the largely minority communities in the freeway's path.

While at CLIPI, Phillips also drafted and successfully prodded Congress to enact crucial amendments to the False Claims Act. The revised law has subsequently become the governments’ primary tool in holding accountable corporations that have defrauded the US government and restoring literally billions of dollars to the US treasury to reimburse false claims.