Steven J. Phillips

Steven J. Phillips is a senior partner and founding member of Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP. He heads the firm's toxic torts and appellate practice. He enjoys a nationwide reputation as a plaintiffs’ lawyer representing victims of occupational and environmental hazards. Steve's pioneering work in the prosecution of groundwater contamination, nuclear radiation, asbestos, and mesothelioma litigation has yielded precedent-setting successes.

Steve has served as lead trial and appellate counsel in numerous mass tort litigations including:

• Asbestos exposure at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and other New York shipyards;
• Asbestos exposure at construction sites;
• Groundwater contamination in Jackson Township, NJ;
• Birth defect and cancer litigation on behalf of semiconductor workers and their families;
• Veterans’ exposure to nuclear radiation;
• He has won numerous individual verdicts in the millions and tens of millions of dollars.

An adjunct faculty member at Columbia University's School of Law, Steve teaches a seminar in Advanced Tort Practice. He also participates in teaching the Profession of Law Ethics Course.

Aside from his writing on professional subjects, Steve is an author of nonfiction and fiction books. In the United States his work has been published by Random House and Doubleday, and in the United Kingdom, by MacMillan. He has also written shorter pieces that have appeared in popular periodicals.

After graduating from Williams College in 1968 and Columbia University's School of Law in 1971, Steve worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx County, where he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Homicide Prosecutions. He successfully tried 17 murder cases - two of which involved the murder of police officers. He successfully investigated and prosecuted police officers who beat a prisoner to death while in custody. He also created and designed the first program in New York for the videotaping of homicide confessions. While in private practice, Steve has acted on a pro bono basis in the defense of capital cases.

Steve has briefed and argued many cases before the New York State Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fifth, and District of Columbia circuits. He has also authored an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund before the Supreme Court of the United States. His leading appellate cases have included:

• Ayers v. Township of Jackson, 106 N.J. 557 (1987) [establishing right to medical surveillance damages];
• Jaffe v. United States, 663 F.2d 1226 (3rd Cir. 1980) [vindicating servicemen's rights to receive notification and medical care in the event of nuclear exposure];
• Johnson v. Celotex, 889 F.2d 1281 (2nd Cir. 1990) [establishing punitive damage standards for product liability actions];
• In Re Brooklyn Naval Shipyard Asbestos Litigation, 971 F.2d 831 (2nd Cir. 1992) [establishing trial standards for the consolidation of mass tort actions];
• Blanco v. AT&T, 90 N.Y.2d 757, 666 N.Y.S.2d 536 (1997) [establishing statute of limitations rules for repetitive stress injuries];
• Ruffing et al. [Curtis] v. Union Carbide Corporation et al., 308 A.D.2d 526 (2nd Dept. 2003) [establishing an infant's right to sue for birth defect(s), if false or misleading statements were made to parents by employers or medical professionals].

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