The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is pleased to announce the hire of Andrew Phillips as staff attorney in the NAD Law & Advocacy Center. Phillips joins Debra Patkin, a deaf staff attorney, and Marc Charmatz, long-time staff attorney. Patkin and Charmatz will continue their litigation work to push for systemic change, while Phillips will advocate for policy change through federal government relations.
Phillips recently completed law school at U.C. Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, CA. During law school he was a member of the Hastings Science and Technology Law Journal, and was also recognized as “Best Oral Advocate” in his Moot Court class where he argued on behalf of the District of Columbia in D.C v. Heller.
He did his summer internships at the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles and also Fenwick & West LLP in Silicon Valley. Phillips is a former Congressional Intern of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and worked in her Capitol Hill office during the summer of 2005. Between college and law school he did an internship with the Director of Policy and General Counsel at the National Council on Disability. Phillips has also served in leadership roles with the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities and the National Council on Disability Youth Advisory Committee. He is a graduate of Gallaudet University (2006) and the California School for the Deaf at Fremont (2001).
“I am deeply honored to join the NAD and be a part of its rich history of advocacy. This is an important time for the advancement of the civil, human and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. I look forward to representing the NAD and working together with the community to make our country more accessible.” said Phillips.