Christopher W. Phillips

Download vCard

Email

Download CV

Connect on LinkedIn

200 East Saint Julian Street
PO Box 9848
Savannah, GA 31412-0048

Tel 912.236.0261
Fax 912.236.4936

Chris Phillips is a partner in the Savannah office of the Firm. His practice areas include medical malpractice defense, construction law, products liability, insurance law, and general litigation. Over the last approximately thirty years, Chris has concentrated a large portion of his legal practice on medical malpractice defense, where he defends hospitals, physicians, nurses, and other health care providers against claims of malpractice. He has successfully defended many wrongful death, birthing injury, and other serious and permanent injury cases for various health care providers. As an experienced litigator, Chris has participated in over forty jury trials and arbitrations in all types of disputes, including in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and New York.

Chris started his legal practice, and still concentrates a significant portion of his time, in the area of contract negotiations and drafting and all forms of dispute litigation and arbitration related to the construction industry. He has experience representing numerous contractors, private owners and developers, state and local public entities, bonding companies, design professionals, and subcontractors/suppliers. His representation includes drafting and negotiating all forms of commercial construction-related contracts. He has participated in the drafting and negotiation of general contracts for numerous large commercial projects that exceeded $30 million in value. His experience includes both contract drafting and negotiation and litigation of disputes involving the construction of hotels, municipal arenas, hospitals and medical facilities, multifamily housing projects, and large office buildings. He also has extensive experience representing clients in asserting and defending against mechanic’s liens and payment and performance bond claims. Past cases include successfully representing a regional general contractor in an arbitration recovery against the owner of a large office building and recovering the full amount of the claim, including interest and attorneys’ fees. He also successfully defended a large general contractor in arbitration against claims by the owner of an apartment complex for delays and defective construction.

Chris is admitted to practice in the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Georgia. He is a member of the Savannah Bar Association. Chris has also been accepted as a Charter Member of the Southeastern Georgia Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Chris authored “Principles of Hospital Liability,” a chapter in the fourth edition of The Georgia Hospital Law Manual published by the Georgia Academy of Hospital Attorneys. He is also the author of “Potential Traps for Contractors, Insurance and Indemnity Provisions in Construction Contracts,” which appeared in the February 1994 Construction Law Supplement to the Fulton County Daily Report. Chris has given numerous lectures on various construction-related legal topics (such as “Negotiating Contracts from a Subcontractor’s Perspective” and “Lien Waivers and Contractor’s Affidavits”) at various seminars sponsored by different organizations, including the Georgia Continuing Legal Education Institute, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and Lorman Business Services. Chris has also given numerous presentations and lectures to, and participated in mock trials and depositions for, many client groups on varied topics related to medical malpractice.

Chris has remained very active for many years and presently serves as the chairman of the board at his high school alma mater, Benedictine Military School in Savannah. He also serves as the Major Gifts chairman and Steering Committee member for the school’s current major Capital Campaign. He is active in the Executive Association of Savannah and currently serves as the secretary and a board member in the organization. Chris volunteers his time and talents with numerous local community charitable, civic, and religious organizations, including the Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy program, the German Friendly Society, the Savannah Quarterback Club, Isle of Hope United Methodist Church, and Athletes in Action. In his spare time, Chris enjoys spending time with his wife, three grown children, and especially his grandchildren, in addition to his passions of hunting, fishing, boating, and enjoying the outdoors.

Chris is known as a “Triple Dawg,” having graduated from the University of Georgia with three degrees: a B.S. in Forest Resources in 1983, an M.F.R. in Forest Business Management in 1985, and a law degree, cum laude, in 1988. During law school, he served on the editorial review board of the Georgia Law Review.

Experience

Credentials

Insights

News