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George J. Phillips
Partner
Overview
George Phillips helps guide clients through the full range of litigation risks that they might encounter as a thoughtful and aggressive advocate, regularly achieving successful litigation outcomes both inside and outside the courtroom that minimize liability and damages. He concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate and business law, communications law, labor and employment law, and commercial, and business litigation. He has extensive experience in negotiating and facilitating significant business acquisitions and complicated commercial transactions and agreements, including international contract negotiations.
George provides business and legal advice to a number of growing Sumner County businesses and companies that consider locating to Middle Tennessee. George also serves as the general counsel for several companies. He has served as the utility infielder for legal issues for a national pet supply company, a regional mortgage company, a solar equipment manufacturer, and a remediation company. George currently serves as the interim general counsel for a division of an international consumer products company. He manages their contracts, compliance issues, regulatory issues, liability claims, and litigation matters.
George has worked in the government sector where he served as counselor to the assistant attorney general, Civil Division, in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., from 1993 through 1997. George was the chief of staff to the assistant attorney general for the Civil Division that managed complex national civil litigation. He also supervised the Office of Consumer Litigation, which represented the Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, and Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Additionally, George successfully defended the FDA’s regulation of cigarettes in oral argument in the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina. Although the FDA ultimately lost in the U.S. Supreme Court, George counts this case as one of his proudest moments of his legal career. He says, “The attention this case brought forced many of the tobacco companies to voluntarily adopt many of the regulations that were being considered by the FDA to discourage young people from starting to smoke and later was passed into law.”
He also worked to develop a compliance program for a major defense contractor in response to the FBI’s “I11-Wind” investigation, which helped the company avoid a criminal prosecution.
George attributes his interest in law to his oldest brother, Johnny, who practices in Gallatin, TN. George explains, “When I was in high school I helped him on a number of cases; his commitment to ensuring that folks got a fair shake showed me the ability of attorneys to help people in a very direct way and made me want to be a lawyer.”
Credentials
Education
- University of Tennessee College of Law, 1989 (J.D.)
- Duke University, 1984 (B.A.), magna cum laude
- Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Correction, Board Member
- Gallatin Shalom Zone, General Counsel
- Martindale-Hubbell, Distinguished Rating
- Best Lawyers in America, 2021-2024
- Tennessee Bar Association, International Law Committee, Vice-Chair
- Nashville Bar Association
- Sumner County Bar Association
- International Distribution Agreements Institute