Carter Phillips is the immediate former chair of Sidley Austin’s Executive Committee, and has returned to the full-time practice of law as one of the most experienced Supreme Court and appellate lawyers in the country.  Phillips was the managing partner of Sidley’s Washington, D.C. office from 1995-2012.

He served as a law clerk to both Judge Robert Sprecher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Chief Justice Warren E. Burger on the United States Supreme Court. He also served as Assistant to the Solicitor General from 1981-1984. He has argued 86 cases before the Supreme Court, which include 77 cases since joining Sidley and nine cases on behalf of the federal government while working in the Solicitor General’s office. He also has argued more than 125 cases in U.S. courts of appeals, including at least one in every circuit.

He is a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the Academy of Arts & Sciences.  He is the current chair of the Federal Circuit Advisory Council. He serves as treasurer and on the board of trustees of the Supreme Court Historical Society. He graduated summa cum laude from The Ohio State University and received his J.D. magna cum laude, Order of the Coif from Northwestern University School of Law.