Judge Phillips is the inaugural President of the NSW Personal Injury Commission which was established in 2021. Prior to his appointment in 2019 to the District Court bench and as President of the NSW Workers Compensation Commission, he was a solicitor in private practice for over 30 years. He specialised in employment and industrial law and was a partner in the global law firm K & L Gates, serving on its global management committee. While in practice, Judge Phillips was a frequent author in the Australian Financial Review on a range of legal and industrial relations topics. He is currently a council fellow at St John’s College within the University of Sydney.