Bar/Professional Activity:

• Mr. Phillips is an avid court historian. His collection of historic Pennsylvania Court House post cards was recently featured in AOPC Connected, a quarterly publication circulated to the Pennsylvania Judiciary and Legislature. Dean Phillips has served on the Philadelphia Bar Association's Professional Guidance Committee and Appellate Court Procedural Rules Committee, and is a member of the Montogmery County Bar Association and a former member of its Bench-Bar Committee. Mr. Phillips clerked for the late William D. Hutchinson, then a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and subsequently a judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and for the Honorable Edmund V. Ludwig, then a judge of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, subsequently a judge of the United Stated District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Mr. Phillips has also served as a court appointed monitor for the Philadelphia School District in the historic desegregation case Human Relations Commission v. Philadelphia School District. Mr. Phillips He began his career as a practicing attorney in 1984, following his clerkship with Justice Hutchinson, as an associate at Duane Morris & Heckscher where he worked in the Commercial Litigation group. He also served as an associate at Fox, Rothschild O'Brien and Frankel.   

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Mr. Phillips is actively involved in the Community.  He currently serves as treasurer of the Lower Gwynedd Township Supervisors to the Lower Gwynedd Township Parks and Recreation Board where he works to facilitate cooperation between local government, the private sector and youth sports organizations and to support local initiatives for hiking trails and bike trails in the Township. Mr. Phillips has served Community Relations Director and Fund Raising Chair for the Lower Gwynedd Little League and was previously Secretary of the League’s Board.  He has also previously served as Vice President of the Ambler Whitpain Trojans, a youth football team in the Keystone State League and as a Board member of Philadelphia Young Playwrights.   He has also served on the leadership fundraising committee for Springside Academy. In 1973, while a student at Penn State, Mr. Phillips was elected to the State College Borough Council, the only undergraduate ever elected to that office.   At the time, he was also the youngest elected official in the Commonwealth.  He chaired the Borough's first Human Relations Committee, was Vice Chair of the Center Regional Counsel of Governments Public Safety Committee, and a Member of the Airport Expansion Subcommittee. In 1969, he chaired the State College Area for the White House Conference on Children and Youth.

Scholarly Lectures and Writings:

• LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS:  Mr. Phillips has lectured to the Pennsylvania Conference of State Court Judges at its annual conference on a number of occasions over the last ten years on various topics pertaining to appellate practice and procedure. In 2003, he was a featured speaker at Superior Court's Heritage Conference.  He has presented his appellate practice and procedure test at various CLE and Judicial Education events around the Commonwealth including: Centre County Bar Association; Montgomery County Bar Association; Bucks County Bar Association, Chester County Bench Bar Conference, Luzerne County Bench Bar Conference; Erie County Bar Association Annual Meeting; Chester County Inn of Court and the Civil Division of the First Judicial District. In 2003, he spoke on appeals from Orphans' Court orders to the Orphans' Court Section of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Court judges.  He was a featured speaker at Real Property Probate &Trust Law Section Spring meeting in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. PUBLICATIONS: Co-author Local Jails and Drug Treatment (LEAA 1975);  Stare Decisis, Common Law and Uncommon Precedent (PBI 2004); Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance (PBI 1987); Collateral Orders (PBI 1992); Update - Recent Developments - Rules of Appellate Procedure (PBI 2007); Collateral Orders -- Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 313 (PBI 2007); Appealability of Orders Recognizing the Problems; Avoiding the Pitfalls (2007); Appellate Primer: Thirty-Five Things to Do and Not Do (PBI 2010). Orphans' Court Practice and Procedure: Appealability Issues (PBI 2007). An Appellate Primer for Trial Lawyers (Dispute Resolution Institute 2007). 

Educational Background:

• Mr. Phillips graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1974.  He is a cum laude graduate of Villanova Law School where he served as chairman of the Moot Court Board. He received the Herman J. Obert Corporation Award and the prestigious Hyman Goodman awarded to the graduating law student who has made an outstanding contribution to the law school in academic and extracurricular activities. He is a member of the Order of the Coif.