Why Phillips & Associates
Choosing An Employment Lawyer Should Not Be A Quick Decision.
When someone calls an employment lawyer, it is usually because something career-impacting has happened at work.
For many people, a job affects everything: income, health insurance, family stability, reputation, and future opportunities. Losing a job is difficult. Losing a job after sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or other workplace misconduct can be devastating.
Many employees who contact Phillips & Associates are angry, embarrassed, scared, ashamed, confused, or financially stressed. They may wonder whether anyone will believe them, whether they are overreacting, whether HR will protect them, or whether speaking up will only make things worse.
That is why choosing an employment lawyer should not be a quick decision.
The firm has handled more than 9,500 employment matters, litigated approximately 2,000 cases, recovered more than $360 million for employees, obtained published decisions cited by other courts, and appeared before more than 110 federal judges.
On This Page
Why Employees Choose Phillips & Associates
The lawyer and law firm you hire become your voice. They may speak with your employer, deal with defense counsel, evaluate your evidence, negotiate your case, prepare you for mediation, and help decide whether the matter should be resolved, litigated, tried, or appealed.
Phillips & Associates represents employees only and has never represented an employer. The firm handles workplace sexual harassment, coerced workplace relationships, retaliation, whistleblower retaliation, pregnancy and paternity-leave discrimination, medical leave and accommodation disputes, race discrimination, hostile work environment claims, and wrongful termination after protected complaints.
Every client is assigned a dedicated litigation team led by a partner or senior litigator. The firm prepares cases for litigation because trial readiness often creates leverage to resolve a case successfully.
A demand letter is not a litigation strategy. Career impacting employment cases require evidence, timelines, witnesses, damages analysis, negotiation judgment, and the ability to litigate when an employer refuses to do the right thing.
Phillips & Associates is built for that work.
Awards and Recognition
Phillips & Associates and its attorneys have been recognized by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and other independent legal rating organizations for their work in labor and employment law. The firm was nominated for Chambers Labor & Employment: Mainly Plaintiffs, one of the legal profession's most respected peer-reviewed rankings. 15 Phillips & Associates attorneys have been selected to Super Lawyers. In addition, 13 of the firm’s attorneys have obtained settlements or verdicts exceeding $1 million, qualifying them for membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Awards and recognitions do not determine the outcome of a case. They do, however, provide independent recognition from clients, peers, opposing counsel, and others in the legal profession regarding a firm's experience, reputation, and body of work.
Trauma-Informed Representation
At Phillips & Associates, every member of the firm receives trauma-informed training, not only the attorneys. Many employees contact the firm after months or years of harassment, retaliation, discrimination, workplace pressure, or fear of losing their careers. Others delayed reporting because they feared retaliation, professional isolation, or concerns about not being believed.
This approach is particularly important in matters involving sexual harassment, coercive workplace relationships, retaliation, and misconduct by supervisors, executives, business owners, physicians, law firm partners, and others in positions of authority.
Phillips & Associates builds its intake and communication around those realities. Effective advocacy requires both legal skill and an understanding of what workplace misconduct can do to the people experiencing it.
EMPLOYMENT ONLY LITIGATION FIRM
WE DO ONE THING.
Phillips & Associates is an employment-only litigation firm focused on workplace power dynamics, misconduct by people in positions of authority, and career-impacting employment disputes. The firm has handled more than 9,500 employment matters, litigated approximately 2,000 cases, and recovered more than $360 million for employees. The firm represents employees in matters involving sexual harassment, retaliation, discrimination, whistleblower claims, pregnancy discrimination, medical leave disputes, hostile work environment claims, and other workplace misconduct. Unlike firms that divide their practice among multiple disciplines, Phillips & Associates focuses exclusively on workplace disputes. The firm has handled more than 9,500 employment matters, litigated approximately 2,000 cases, and recovered more than $360 million for employees. That singular focus provides extensive experience with the laws, evidence, damages, and litigation strategies that drive employment cases. Phillips & Associates prepares matters for negotiation, mediation, discovery, trial, and appeal because employers and their defense firms negotiate differently when they know opposing counsel is prepared to litigate.
Trusted by 700+ Satisfied Clients
Phillips & Associates has earned more than 900 tracked client reviews and maintains a 4.8-star average rating across major review platforms, including Google, Yellow Pages, Superpages, Yelp, Avvo, FindLaw, Lawyers.com, and Martindale-Hubbell. Those reviews reflect years of representing employees in sexual harassment, retaliation, discrimination, medical leave, accommodation, hostile work environment, whistleblower, pregnancy discrimination, and wrongful termination matters. The firm’s reviews span its New York City, Long Island, and Princeton offices and frequently discuss responsiveness, communication, professionalism, litigation experience, and the firm’s ability to guide employees through difficult workplace situations. In addition to client reviews, Phillips & Associates is ranked by Chambers USA in Labor & Employment: Mainly Plaintiffs in New York. Chambers market commentary has cited the firm’s compassion for clients, high-stakes employment work, credibility, business judgment, sophisticated legal analysis, and practical approach. While every case is different, the consistency of client feedback across multiple offices and independent platforms provides insight into how the firm communicates, prepares cases, and represents employees throughout the legal process.
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"Patient and Thorough"He covered every angle and was able to help me with my dispute. I would recommend Jesse Weinstein and Phillips and Associates in the future to anyone.- Margaret
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"Professional and Empathetic"Being in the restaurant industry for more than 30 years I can say that this law firm is the number one choice for workers in the restaurant business that need to sue their company for wrongful termination.- Massimo
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"Didn't Have to Worry"He was extremely patient and understanding throughout the process and remained professional and consistent even when I could not. I really felt like he had my back and I didn't have to worry.- Karen
workplace power dynamics
Many Phillips & Associates matters involve supervisors, executives, business owners, physicians, law firm partners, and other individuals who control compensation, promotions, schedules, or continued employment.
A supervisor may control schedules, pay, assignments, promotions, or continued employment. A law firm partner may influence a junior attorney's advancement. A restaurant manager may control shifts. A finance executive, physician, business owner, founder, or top salesperson may be protected because that person generates significant revenue for the organization.
Power matters because it affects why employees stay quiet, why reporting feels dangerous, and why retaliation can be so damaging.
Phillips & Associates examines who had authority, how that authority was used, what the employer knew, how HR responded, and what changed after an employee spoke up. That focus runs throughout the firm's litigation, published decisions, and attorney training.
→ SEE HOW THE FIRM LITIGATES WORKPLACE POWER DYNAMICS
TRIAL READINESS,
COURTROOM EXPERIENCE
Phillips & Associates has filed more than 2,500 EEOC charges, litigated approximately 2,000 employment cases, and recovered more than $360 million for employees.
The firm's attorneys have formally appeared before more than 110 United States District Judges and more than 70 United States Magistrate Judges, including a verified presence before nearly every currently sitting District Judge in the Southern District of New York and Eastern District of New York.
Phillips & Associates litigates employment matters in federal and state court, before the EEOC and state and local human rights agencies, and through arbitration, discovery, depositions, motion practice, trial, and appeal.
Many employment disputes are resolved before trial. Meaningful settlement leverage, however, often depends on an employer's assessment of the risks associated with continued litigation. Employers and their defense firms evaluate whether opposing counsel has the experience, resources, and willingness to pursue a case through discovery, summary judgment, trial, and appeal.
This page documents the firm's litigation record, courtroom experience, published decisions, trial results, and appellate work.
→ SEE WHERE AND HOW THE FIRM LITIGATES
Case Results & Trials
Phillips & Associates has recovered more than $360 million for employees, including more than $60 million in 2025 alone. The firm's recoveries involve sexual harassment, retaliation, discrimination, whistleblower claims, pregnancy discrimination, medical leave disputes, hostile work environment claims, executive misconduct, and supervisor abuse. Matters have involved Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, healthcare systems, global law firms, media organizations, and other sophisticated employers.
The firm's litigation record includes federal jury verdicts, appellate victories, and published employment law decisions. Representative matters include a $5 million sexual harassment and retaliation recovery involving a global law firm, a $3.375 million sexual harassment settlement involving a corporate CEO, a $2.1 million whistleblower retaliation recovery, and a $1.8 million federal jury verdict in a hostile work environment case.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes, and every case is evaluated on its own facts.
Precedents and Decisions
Several Phillips & Associates decisions have subsequently been cited by federal and state courts interpreting retaliation, hostile work environment, pregnancy discrimination, whistleblower protections, punitive damages, and employer liability.
Phillips & Associates has obtained published federal and state court decisions that other courts now cite, including the Second Circuit's cat's paw retaliation decision in Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Service.
The firm's published decisions involve retaliation, hostile work environment claims, pregnancy discrimination, whistleblower protections, employer liability, and other workplace rights issues. Representative matters include Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Service, Zimmer v. Warner Bros. Pictures, Roberts v. Genting New York LLC, and Sooroojballie v. Port Authority.
Many firms can send a demand letter. Fewer can point to decisions that helped shape employment law. Phillips & Associates has obtained federal jury verdicts, appellate victories, and published decisions that are now part of the legal record other lawyers and courts rely upon.
Several Phillips & Associates decisions have subsequently been cited by federal and state courts interpreting the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, retaliation claims, hostile work environment claims, and employer liability.
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$360M+ Recovered for 9,500+ Employees Like You
We have the power to take on the country’s largest employers.
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11 Attorneys Named to Super Lawyers
Recognition that makes employers take you seriously — Super Lawyers and U.S. News Best Law Firms.
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Every Case Is Reviewed by a Senior AttorneyYou get experience on your side from day one.
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Trusted by the National MediaOur attorneys are regularly asked to comment by NBC, the WSJ, and the NY Post.
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Pay Nothing Unless We WinYour consultation is free, and you pay only if we recover for you.
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One of the Largest Plaintiff Law Firms Representing Employees
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$2,000,000 Sexual Harassment
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$3,375,000 Sexual Harassment
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$975,000 Sexual Harassment & Retaliation
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$5,000,000+ Gender and National Origin Discrimination
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$2,200,000 Race Discrimination & Retaliation
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$1,400,000 Religious & Sexual Orientation Discrimination
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$1,800,000 Race Discrimination
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$3,000,000 Gender Discrimination & Sexual Harassment
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$5,000,000+ Sexual Harassment and Quid Pro Quo
Experience Against Sophisticated Employers and Institutions
Phillips & Associates regularly represents employees against Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, healthcare systems, national media organizations, global law firms, technology companies, publicly traded corporations, closely held businesses, high-net-worth individuals, founders, executives, public figures, and other individuals in positions of significant authority.
The firm regularly litigates against many of the largest management-side employment defense firms in the country, including Jackson Lewis, Littler Mendelson, Ogletree Deakins, Seyfarth Shaw, Morgan Lewis, Cleary Gottlieb, Proskauer Rose, and other national defense firms.
Employers and defense counsel know which plaintiff firms are prepared to litigate and which are not. They evaluate whether opposing counsel has the experience, resources, and willingness to pursue discovery, depositions, summary judgment, trial, and appeal if a case does not resolve early. That reputation often creates leverage long before a case reaches a courtroom because sophisticated defendants negotiate differently when they know the employee's lawyers are prepared to keep going.
Our Dedicated Litigation Teams
Senior-Led Teams. Long-Standing Continuity. The team that evaluates the case is the team that litigates it.
No one handles a career-impacting employment case alone.
Phillips & Associates assigns every client a dedicated legal team led by a partner or senior litigator, with an associate attorney and paralegal working together from intake through resolution. Many of the firm’s partners and senior attorneys have litigated employment cases together for 10 to 15 years, bringing continuity, experience, and the resources necessary to litigate against major corporations and the defense firms that represent them.
Unlike many firms that operate remotely, Phillips & Associates works together in the office, allowing attorneys, paralegals, and partners to collaborate in real time on litigation strategy, evidence development, witness preparation, damages analysis, and case valuation.
The firm represents employees exclusively and has never represented an employer. Every case is handled on a contingency, meaning there are no attorney fees unless the firm recovers compensation for the client.
Trauma-Informed Representation
At Phillips & Associates, every member of the firm receives trauma-informed training, not only the attorneys. Many employees contact the firm after months or years of harassment, retaliation, discrimination, workplace pressure, or fear of losing their careers. Others delayed reporting because they feared retaliation, professional isolation, or concerns about not being believed.
This approach is particularly important in matters involving sexual harassment, coercive workplace relationships, retaliation, and misconduct by supervisors, executives, business owners, physicians, law firm partners, and others in positions of authority.
Phillips & Associates builds its intake and communication around those realities. Effective advocacy requires both legal skill and an understanding of what workplace misconduct can do to the people experiencing it.
Precision, Credibility, and Business Judgment
Phillips & Associates combines employment litigation experience with real-world business and organizational experience. Employment cases often involve more than legal issues. They involve careers, compensation, reputation, leverage, negotiation strategy, and risk.
Phillips & Associates evaluates cases through both a legal and business lens. Before founding the firm, William K. Phillips worked in investment banking, led international mergers and acquisitions transactions, managed more than $17 million in real estate investments, and built Phillips & Associates from a solo practice into one of the largest employee-side employment law firms in New York.
That experience provides additional perspective on valuation, negotiation, organizational decision-making, and how employers assess risk when allegations involve senior executives, high-value employees, reputational concerns, or potential litigation exposure.
In the Media
Phillips & Associates' cases and attorneys have been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, People, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, NBC News, the New York Post, Law360, and other national and legal-industry publications. Phillips & Associates attorneys and matters are regularly tracked and reported by Law360, one of the legal profession's leading news publications. The firm's matters have generated national coverage involving workplace misconduct, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower claims, and public-figure litigation, including cases connected to Sean Combs, Harvey Weinstein, RBC Capital Markets, The Walt Disney Company, and Kanye West-related litigation. Firm attorneys are also regularly quoted and featured as commentators on workplace harassment, retaliation, whistleblower law, workplace power dynamics, and employment litigation. Media coverage is not the measure of a law firm's ability. It does, however, reflect that journalists, legal publications, and industry outlets repeatedly turn to the firm's cases and attorneys when reporting on significant workplace-rights issues.
