Jeffrey M. Phillips

Ratings

• 5 Star Rating on Google
• 5 Star Rating on Martindale
• 5 Star Rating on Lawyers

Practicing law for over 30 years

• Former DOJ Deputy Attorney General, Licensing Section
• Highly experienced DOJ prosecutor who represented California licensing agencies
• License defense for all professional licensees, including physicians, nurses, pharmacies, and businesses
• Legal authority on licensing and enforcement matters
• Department of Consumer Affairs DOI investigations
• Medical Executive Committee actions
• Insurance fraud and abuse matters
• State and Federal regulatory agency issues
• Licensed to practice in all state and federal courts in California

Former Deputy Attorney General now defending you

When your professional license, your livelihood, and your reputation are at stake, Jeffrey Mason Phillips is the defense attorney you can count on to protect your rights and fight your case vigorously. Mr. Phillips served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Department of Justice for over 30 years in the Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles Attorney General Offices. Mr. Phillips rose to the rank of DAG V, amongst the highest attorney designations at the DOJ.

During his years serving as a Deputy Attorney General in the Licensing Section, he represented dozens of state licensing agencies, pursued investigations, and prosecuted hundreds of enforcement disciplinary cases against licensed professionals and corporations.

With decades of experience at the Department of Justice, Mr. Phillips is well-versed in California’s licensing agency investigations and enforcement actions. His extensive background provides the invaluable experience clients need to resolve high-stakes investigations and disciplinary proceedings.

Now in private practice, Mr. Phillips brings all his institutional knowledge, skills, and training to bear on behalf of licensed professionals who face the most serious threat of their careers: losing their professional license and ability to work. Mr. Phillips has unparalleled experience handling complex licensing enforcement proceedings in state and federal courts throughout the entire State of California.

Professional license defense

If you are a licensed professional under investigation, facing an Accusation, or confronting potential suspension or revocation of your license, Mr. Phillips provides skilled, aggressive representation at every stage — from the initial investigation through administrative hearings, Superior Court writ proceedings, and appellate review.

Jeffrey Phillips provides administrative law professional license defense representation for physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, chiropractors, healthcare corporations, insurance agencies, and all licensed professionals accused of unprofessional conduct, negligence, fraud, or other acts that may impact their ability to practice their profession. Mr. Phillips also defends against Penal Code section 23 motions in criminal courts.

Mr. Phillips represents licensed professionals before California’s licensing agencies, including:

• All 40 Department of Consumer Affairs licensing agencies
• Medical Board of California
• California Board of Nursing
• California State Board of Pharmacy
• Dental Board of California
• California Board of Psychology
• Board of Chiropractic Examiners
• Insurance fraud control units
• California Department of Public Health
• California Department of Social Services
• California Department of Insurance
• California Department of Real Estate
• Department of Consumer Affairs, Division of Investigation
• Department of Justice, Attorney General
• Office of Administrative Hearings
• Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)

Mr. Phillips spent nearly two decades advising these boards and prosecuting professionals on their behalf. He knows exactly how state investigators think, how Deputy Attorneys General construct their strategies, and what metrics board executives use to evaluate settlement offers versus pursuing outright license revocation. This deep institutional knowledge enables him to anticipate the prosecution’s next move, identify procedural errors, and craft defense strategies designed to neutralize allegations before they reach a public hearing.

Extensive trial experience in state and federal courts

If an administrative hearing or court trial decides your case, Mr. Phillips’s experience will help you achieve the best possible outcome. He has been arguing administrative hearings, trials, writs, and appellate matters for decades. He has cross-examined countless experts and witnesses and is prepared to skillfully challenge evidence presented against you and provide the best evidence in support of your defense in order to effectively argue your case during settlement or at trial.

Jeffrey Phillips is a battle-tested trial attorney with lead counsel experience in over 100 administrative trials and 16 civil jury trials in state and federal courts throughout California. He has been lead trial counsel in courtrooms from Los Angeles to Sacramento, San Francisco to Fresno, to Redding and beyond.

His federal trial experience includes jury trials in the Central District of California (Los Angeles and Santa Ana) and the Eastern District of California (Sacramento). His state court trial experience spans Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Alameda, and Humboldt counties, with six jury trials in Los Angeles County Superior Courts alone.

Mr. Phillips has achieved an extraordinary record in jury trials as lead counsel: six defense verdicts, two verdicts below the settlement offer, one directed verdict, and one mistrial. Put simply, he knows how to win at trial — and he knows what it costs when you don’t properly prepare for one.

Writ and appellate experience

If you wish to appeal an adverse decision at the administrative level, Mr. Phillips provides legal representation in writ of administrative mandamus (also called writ of mandate) appeals in Superior Court. Mr. Phillips is experienced in addressing the complex issues involved in writ appeals, including venue selection, legal strategy, ex parte petitions for stay of revocation, suspension, or discipline of a license, and drafting and arguing effective writ appeals in court.

Mr. Phillips has taken cases all the way through appellate review, authoring full briefs and presenting oral arguments before multi-justice panels in California’s state appellate courts and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

His appellate experience includes:

• U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco
• 2nd Appellate District, California Court of Appeal, Los Angeles
• 5th Appellate District, California Court of Appeal, Fresno/Sacramento

One of the most notable chapters of his appellate career involved Potts v. California Dental Board, a First Amendment commercial speech challenge litigated in the Eastern District of California. After an adverse summary judgment ruling against the Dental Board before his assignment to the case, Mr. Phillips took over, authored the appellate brief, and successfully argued before the Ninth Circuit — securing a reversal and remand. The case proceeded to a full bench trial, where U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez acknowledged on the record:

“The reality of this case is that the defendant, represented vigorously and very effectively by Mr. Phillips, starts at a disadvantage in this case given the prior history… I’ll give Mr. Phillips credit. He did a terrific job arguing… I thought it was an excellent argument.”

A sitting federal district court judge praising your opponent’s lawyer on the record, mid-trial, is about as powerful a testament to courtroom skill as exists in this profession.

Service area

Mr. Phillips handles professional license defense cases statewide throughout California.

Professional profiles

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