Phillip F. "Phil" Cramer

Phillip Cramer excels in monetizing claims, pursuing redress, and securing recoveries for plaintiffs in antitrust cases. He has assisted corporate claimants in obtaining recoveries exceeding $1 billion. He also handles high-impact civil rights actions to redress constitutional rights violations.

A highly intelligent, out-of-the-box thinker, and creative problem-solver, Phil meshes book smarts and innovation with practicality, finding ways to approach cases that others may fail to see.

Phil began his legal career as a trial attorney in the Honors Program of the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. There he gained invaluable experience and an insider’s perspective, which he leverages along with his antitrust knowledge, 25 years of experience, and his understanding of economics to develop case strategies and build strong cases.

In the high-profile civil rights realm, Phil has brought cases asserting the rights of immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community, prisoners, and others, as well as voting, privacy, death penalty relief, and marriage equality rights. For these efforts, he has received the Tennessee Bar Association’s Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award and the ACLU-TN Benjamin S. Pressnell Bill of Rights Award. Phil also teaches a class in civil rights litigation as an adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School.

Versatile and skilled, Phil is equally comfortable and adept at brainstorming and crafting trial strategy, drafting a brief, cross-examining a witness at trial, arguing before a judge, and educating a client on case opportunities. He stays on top of the latest trends in the law and was among the first to develop the opt-out practice area.

Upon graduating from law school, Phil served as law clerk to the Honorable Karen LeCraft Henderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. A former Rhodes Scholar finalist, he has authored three books, including The Fight for Marriage: Church Conflicts and Courtroom Contests, which recounts his journeys within his church and the Supreme Court in the fight for marriage equality.