John R. Phillips (attorney)

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = John R Phillips

|image = John R Phillips Ambassador Cropped.png

|caption =

|office = United States Ambassador to Italy
United States Ambassador to San Marino

|president = Barack Obama

|term_start = September 13, 2013

|term_end = January 20, 2017

|predecessor = David Thorne

|successor = Lewis M. Eisenberg

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|12|15}}

|birth_place = Leechburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|spouse = Linda Douglass

|children = 1

|education = University of Notre Dame (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)

}}

John R. Phillips (born December 15, 1942) is an American diplomat and attorney who served as the United States Ambassador to Italy and San Marino, serving from 2013 to 2017.{{cite web |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-fires-us-ambassadors-no-replacements-a7538256.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-fires-us-ambassadors-no-replacements-a7538256.html |archive-date=June 13, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title= Donald Trump has fired all foreign US ambassadors with nobody to replace them |work=The Independent |first= Rachel |last= Revesz |date= January 20, 2017 |access-date= January 20, 2017}} As a partner at Phillips & Cohen, LLP (1988–2013) and before that, in Los Angeles, he practiced public interest law, specializing in whistleblower cases that recovered billions from companies defrauding the government.

Early life and education

Phillips was born and grew up in Leechburg, Pennsylvania, a small steel mill town in western Pennsylvania. His grandparents emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s. Their family name was anglicized and changed from "Filippi" to "Phillips."{{Cite web|url = http://milan.usconsulate.gov/news-events/ambassador-phillips-trip-friuli.html|title = Remarks by the U.S. Ambassador John R. Phillips during his trip to Friuli," Oct. 5, 2014.|access-date = February 24, 2015|archive-date = February 24, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150224124107/http://milan.usconsulate.gov/news-events/ambassador-phillips-trip-friuli.html|url-status = dead}}

Phillips received a B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1966 and a J.D. degree in 1969 from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he was a member of the editorial board of the California Law Review.{{Cite web|url = http://www.allgov.com/news/appointments-and-resignations/ambassador-to-italy-and-san-marino-who-is-john-phillips-131029?news=851510|title = Ambassador to Italy and San Marino: Who Is John Phillips?|date = October 29, 2013}}

Professional career

Phillips joined the Los Angeles, California, law firm of O'Melveny & Myers as an associate in 1969. After two years, he left to start one of the first Ford Foundation-funded public interest law firms, the Center for Law in the Public Interest (CLIPI), in Los Angeles with three former colleagues.

Center for Law in the Public Interest

Phillips was co-director of CLIPI for 17 years. During that time, the firm was a major force litigating landmark environmental, civil rights, consumer protection and corporate fraud and accountability cases.{{Cite book|title = Giantkillers: The Team and the Law that Help Whistleblowers Recover American's Stolen Billions|last = Scammell|first = Henry|publisher = Grove Press|year = 2005|isbn = 978-0802141880}} Some of its court cases include the following:

Won consumer class actions suit against Toyota Motors resulting in a recall and repair of a brake problem in Toyota's first Camry model and consumer class action against Sprint for overcharging its customers.{{Cite news|url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-04-fi-2088-story.html|title = Toyota to Repair Camrys' Brake Problem for Free|last = Steward|first = Robert W.|date = May 4, 1988}}

Whistleblower work

Phillips played a significant role in the creation of the US government's whistleblower reward program designed to encourage private citizens to expose and stop fraud against the government.{{Cite web|url =http://italy.usembassy.gov/ambassador.html|title =U.S. Ambassador to the Italian Republic and the Republic of San Marino|url-status =dead|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110521103019/http://italy.usembassy.gov/ambassador.html|archive-date =May 21, 2011|df =mdy-all}} He worked closely with Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and then-Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) to secure congressional passage of the amended False Claims Act with "qui tam" (whistleblower) provisions which were signed into law by President Reagan in October 1986. The law has become the government's primary tool in holding accountable corporations that have defrauded the U.S. government.{{Cite web|url = http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Phillips%20SFRC.pdf|title = Testimony of John R. Phillips Ambassador-Designate to the Italian Republic and the Republic of San Marino Senate Foreign Relations Committee|date = July 30, 2013}}

Phillips started a private law practice, Phillips & Cohen LLP, in Los Angeles and later moved it to Washington, DC, and opened an office in San Francisco.

Shortly after passage of the amended False Claims Act, Phillips founded in 1986 Taxpayers Against Fraud, a non-profit group that is dedicated to educating the public about government whistleblower programs and advancing public and government support for whistleblower cases.{{Cite web|url = http://taf.org/who-we-are|title = Taxpayers Against Fraud Educational Fund - Who We Are|access-date = February 24, 2015|archive-date = February 24, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150224121958/http://taf.org/who-we-are|url-status = dead}}

Public appointments

John Phillips was selected by President Bill Clinton to be a member of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. He served from 1997 to 2001. In 2009, President Obama appointed Phillips to be the chairman of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, where he served for four years. He was an appointed member (1988) to serve on the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference.

President Obama appointed him as US Ambassador to Italy and San Marino in 2013.{{Cite news|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/09/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts|title = President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts|last = The White House - Office of the Press Secretary|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|date = July 9, 2013}}

Italy

Phillips invested in a group of houses (a "borgo," or village) in Tuscany in 2001 that were more than 800 years old and were in a ruined state.{{Cite web|url = http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/reviving-the-italian-village|title = Reviving the Italian Village|date = May 2011|website = Travel+Leisure|last = Lindberg|first = Peter Jon}} He spent eight years restoring and improving the buildings and grounds, following strict historic preservation rules. The Borgo Finocchieto, which has a total of 22 bedrooms (Borgo Finocchieto in Bibbiano, Buonconvento), is designed to host groups, small conferences and educational programs, loosely based on the Aspen Institute model.{{Cite web|url = http://www.borgofinocchieto.com/|title = Borgo Finocchieto}}

Phillips was a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Academy in Rome from 2009 to 2013.{{Cite web|url = http://www.aarome.org/people/governance/board|title = American Academy in Rome - BOARD OF TRUSTEES|access-date = February 24, 2015|archive-date = February 14, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150214024938/http://www.aarome.org/people/governance/board|url-status = dead}} He rejoined the board in March 2017 after he stepped down as ambassador. Before he became ambassador to Italy, he made more than 50 trips to Italy in the previous decade and has made approximately 100 separate trips to Italy in his lifetime.{{Cite news|url = http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2013/08/22/Leechburg-native-confirmed-as-U-S-ambassador-to-Italy/stories/201308220245|title = Leechburg native confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Italy|last = Duncan|first = Debra|date = August 22, 2013}}

Awards and recognition

"Litigators Hall of Fame," Lawdragon{{cite web | url=http://issuu.com/lawdragon/docs/2015-lawdragon-magazine | title=2015 Lawdragon Magazine 10th Year Anniversary Issue "The 500 Leading Lawyers in America" | date=November 16, 2015 | publisher=ISSUU | access-date=2016-01-26}}
Taxpayers Against Fraud Lifetime Achievement Award{{Cite news|url = http://www.taf.org/whistle62.htm|title = Taxpayers Group Gives Lifetime Achievement Award to Attorney John Phillips|date = November 2, 2005|access-date = February 24, 2015|archive-date = September 24, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924112945/http://www.taf.org/whistle62.htm|url-status = dead}}
ACLU of Southern California Lifetime Achievement Award{{Cite news|url = https://www.aclusocal.org/aclu-of-southern-california-honors-top-lawyers/|title = ACLU of Southern California Honors Top Lawyers|date = June 29, 2006|access-date = February 24, 2015|archive-date = February 24, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150224123035/https://www.aclusocal.org/aclu-of-southern-california-honors-top-lawyers/|url-status = dead}}

Personal

Phillips is married to Linda Douglass, a veteran journalist and communications strategist. They have a daughter.

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web|last=Duncan|first=Debra|title=Leechburg native confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Italy|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-east/leechburg-native-confirmed-as-us-ambassador-to-italy-700338/|publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=September 11, 2013|date=August 22, 2013}}
{{cite web|last=Office of the Press Secretary|title=President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/09/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts|access-date=September 11, 2013|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|date=July 9, 2013}}
{{cite web|title=John R. Phillips (retired) : Phillips & Cohen LLP : Washington, D.C.|url=http://www.phillipsandcohen.com/Attorneys/John-R-Phillips.shtml|publisher=Phillips & Cohen, LLP|access-date=September 12, 2013}}

}}