Robert V. Phillips
Innovative and record-breaking. As a former world-ranked professional athlete with a willingness to outwork his opponents, Robert uses technology and his firm's financial strength to take on the biggest and most powerful defendants in the country.
The fight is personal.
Robert V. Phillips, the Managing Partner at one of the most successful plaintiff firms in the region, has become one of the most successful attorneys in South Carolina. Innovative and record-breaking are the words most often used to describe him. His unique background as a former professional athlete, his willingness to outwork his opponents, and his use of technology in the courtroom allow Robert to take on and win complex cases against some of the biggest and most powerful defendants in the country. Whether billion-dollar corporations or the federal government, Robert has no fear of any opponent.
While Robert’s clients have usually suffered catastrophic injuries resulting from medical malpractice, reckless 18-wheelers, and defective products, if there has been a truly unjust result he has been known to take certain cases based on principle alone. Combined with his firm’s financial strength, that resolve allows Robert to retain the best experts in their field and give his clients an unmatchable combination.
Robert’s reputation for taking cases that have been turned down by other attorneys and turning them into multi-million-dollar successes means he is often asked to teach other lawyers around the country. He has presented at major legal conferences from Los Angeles to Miami and New Orleans to New York.
Beyond the courtroom.
Robert was born in Huntsville, Alabama, where his father worked as an engineer for NASA — sparking a lifelong interest in science and technology. A top junior tennis player in the United States, he earned a scholarship to Clemson University, turned professional after his junior year, and competed on the ATP Tour for six years against several world #1 players, achieving a top-300 world ranking. He has since been world-ranked professionally in three more sports — racquetball, platform tennis, and senior pickleball, where he is currently one of the top “Over-50” players in the country — and has completed several Ironman Triathlons.
After the Tour, Robert finished his degree at Clemson, studied business for a year at the Université Catholique de Lille in France, and returned to South Carolina for law school at USC, where he served as graduate assistant coach for the Gamecock men’s tennis team. He lives in Charlotte with his wife Birgit and their daughter Heidi; together they take great pride in supporting a charity run by the Rev. Ronald L. King, whose church provides shelter, food, clothing, and a head start to the homeless in the York County area.
