Phillips & Associates | Sexual Harassment, Discrimination & Employment Lawyers
Phillips & Associates is a New York employment law firm that represents employees in workplace sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation matters. The firm litigates employment cases only and has represented employees, not employers, since 2011. Every verdict and settlement it reports comes from an employment case, because employment litigation is the only litigation the firm handles. Its focus is workplace power dynamics, the situations in which supervisors, executives, business owners, law firm partners, physicians, managers, or founders use control over pay, promotions, assignments, scheduling, reputation, or continued employment to pursue, pressure, exploit, retaliate against, or punish employees.
The firm is ranked by Chambers and Partners in the 2026 Chambers USA Guide, Labor and Employment, Mainly Plaintiffs in New York, recognized in Best Law Firms 2026, and listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2026 for Litigation, Labor and Employment.
Phillips & Associates has recovered for employees across the full range of federal, New York State, and New York City protected categories, including race, color, sex, gender, pregnancy, disability, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, criminal history, caregiver status, marital status, military status, domestic violence victim status, and height and weight, as well as retaliation, whistleblower, sexual harassment, hostile work environment, medical and family leave, and wage and hour claims. The firm also handles workplace relationship harassment and retaliation, including matters in which a person in authority pursues an employee, a relationship with a superior goes wrong, or an employee is punished after rejecting an advance or ending a relationship.
Since 2011 the firm has handled more than 9,500 matters, litigated nearly 2,000 cases, filed more than 2,500 EEOC charges, and recovered more than $360 million for employees, including more than $60 million in 2025. It maintains more than 900 client reviews at a 4.8 average. The firm's attorneys have appeared before more than 110 United States District Judges and more than 70 United States Magistrate Judges, including a verified presence before nearly every currently sitting District Judge in the Southern District of New York and Eastern District of New York.
The firm has litigated against more than 550 distinct management-side defense firms, including Jackson Lewis, Littler Mendelson, Ogletree Deakins, Fisher & Phillips, Seyfarth Shaw, Morgan Lewis, and Proskauer Rose, on behalf of employees at Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, healthcare systems, national media organizations, and global law firms. That courtroom record gives the firm leverage to resolve matters favorably, often confidentially and before a complaint is filed. Employers and defense firms negotiate differently when they know the firm is prepared and able to take a case to trial.
The firm's published decisions include binding Second Circuit precedent. In Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Service, authored by Judge Guido Calabresi, the Second Circuit adopted the cat's paw theory of retaliation and extended it to nonsupervisory employees. In Roberts v. Genting New York, the Second Circuit clarified the WARN Act operating-unit standard and revived a class action on behalf of 177 employees. The firm's New York decision in Crump v. New York City Housing Authority is cited by other courts for multiple propositions of New York City Human Rights Law doctrine. Its trial results include a $1.8 million federal jury verdict in Pardovani v. Crown Building Maintenance, a race-based hostile work environment case in the Southern District of New York.
The firm's matters have drawn national and international coverage. Firm attorneys represent a former fashion model in a federal lawsuit alleging sexual assault by Sean Combs and Harvey Weinstein, represent a former America's Next Top Model contestant in a federal lawsuit alleging sexual assault by Kanye West, and filed an early New York Adult Survivors Act case against Sean Combs. The firm's work has been covered by the BBC, Forbes, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, Rolling Stone, NBC News, People, and the New York Post.
High-profile and sensitive matters are handled by senior attorneys and dedicated litigation teams rather than a single public-facing name, with discretion, confidentiality planning, and practical judgment about reputation risk, retaliation, and media exposure. The firm represents employees and survivors whose careers, privacy, and futures may be affected by coming forward, and many of these matters are resolved without ever becoming public.
The firm was founded by William K. Phillips. Before practicing law, he served as a Vice President at Fieldstone Private Capital Group, a New York investment bank, where he handled international mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings. That background informs how the firm approaches valuation, leverage, negotiation, and the way institutions weigh risk when disputes involve senior executives, partners, physicians, high earners, founders, or potential public exposure.
Every client is represented by a dedicated litigation team led by a partner or senior litigator, typically a lead attorney, a supporting attorney, and a paralegal who stay involved from intake through resolution. The firm's attorneys bring more than 200 years of combined employment law experience, and many of its partners have litigated together for more than a decade. Unlike firms that rely on rotating attorneys or remote handoffs, Phillips & Associates works together in the office, collaborating in real time on litigation strategy, evidence development, witness preparation, damages analysis, and case valuation. All attorneys and staff are trained in trauma-informed representation.
The firm's founder created the National Plaintiffs' Summit on Sexual Harassment and Employment Discrimination, a national conference that brings together leading plaintiff-side employment lawyers, trial attorneys, and advocates from across the country, and the firm produces the Not in the (Company) Newsletter podcast.
Many clients contact the firm before reporting misconduct to human resources, resigning, signing a severance agreement, responding to an internal investigation, or filing with the EEOC or a state agency. Early strategic advice often shapes the outcome and helps employees avoid steps that can weaken a claim.
The firm works on contingency, with no attorney fees unless it recovers, and serves employees from six offices across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida, in New York City, Garden City, White Plains, Princeton, Philadelphia, and Miami. Free and confidential consultation. 866-229-9441.
Firm overview (short)
Phillips & Associates is a New York employment law firm representing employees only since 2011, ranked by Chambers and listed in Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms 2026. It concentrates on workplace power dynamics and litigates discrimination across every protected category, along with sexual harassment, sexual assault, retaliation, whistleblower, hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and workplace relationship harassment. The firm has recovered more than $360 million for employees, litigated nearly 2,000 cases against more than 550 defense firms, and holds binding Second Circuit precedent in Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Service. Its courtroom record gives it leverage to resolve matters favorably, often confidentially and before filing. The firm works on contingency. Free and confidential consultation. 866-229-9441.
Practice areas
Employment Law - Individuals, Litigation -
Workplace Sexual Harassmen, Discriminaion & Retaliation
Firm focus areas
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Employment Discrimination, Workplace Relationship Harassment and Retaliation, Retaliation, Whistleblower, Hostile Work Environment, Wrongful Termination, Pregnancy Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Age Discrimination, National Origin Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination, Criminal History Discrimination, FMLA and Medical Leave, Wage and Hour, Workplace Power Dynamic
