Kristine S. Phillips

Overview

Employment law advisor and litigator Kristine Phillips delivers strategic counsel, representation, and advocacy that consistently earns client trust and loyalty. With her incisive analytical skills and profound understanding of the businesses and employment law nuances that affect them, Kristine navigates companies through complex workplace challenges with precision and foresight. Clients repeatedly return to Kristine for her discretion, diplomacy, practical solutions, and responsive approach to problem-solving. She excels in both preventive counseling and high-stakes litigation defense, combining technical and business acumen to resolve disputes efficiently while minimizing operational disruption.

Kristine represents clients in all types of lawsuits involving workforce restructuring, termination decisions, restrictive covenant enforcement, wage disputes, and recruitment strategies, among other examples. She crafts comprehensive employment agreements, negotiates severance terms that safeguard employer interests, and develops robust policy frameworks that withstand scrutiny. Her strategy when counseling companies through internal decision-making processes impacting employees and during investigations is to uncover critical facts and anticipate outcomes while maintaining workplace harmony. In everything she does, Kristine emphasizes placing companies in the best position to defend against or prevent legal exposure.

In the courtroom, Kristine demonstrates exceptional advocacy that consistently results in favorable outcomes for her clients. She has secured closure of agency investigations and dismissals of lawsuits at both the state and federal court levels through meticulously prepared dispositive responses and articulate talking points.

Kristine also brings versatility and depth to the defense and resolution of complex commercial litigation. Her litigation record demonstrates particular strength in her representation of land trustees, where her command of procedural nuances and niche areas of the law resulted in early case dismissals through successful motion practice and behind the scenes tactical negotiation. When cases proceed to trial, Kristine's commanding presence, thorough preparation, and oral and written acuity have culminated in directed verdicts that have vindicated client positions. Moreover, Kristine’s class action skills add another dimension to her capabilities, offering clients seasoned guidance through particularly challenging multi-party disputes. This experience underscores her reputation for excellence in high-exposure representation across diverse legal contexts.

Experience

• Represented a manufacturing company in a complex discrimination and retaliation matter following a corporate acquisition, achieving a negotiated resolution that included employee separation while minimizing litigation risk and addressing broader workplace disruption
• Represented a nonprofit organization and its volunteer board members in a high-exposure wage dispute, negotiating a creative, non-monetary settlement that resolved six-figure claims and eliminated potential personal liability for individual defendants
• Represented a technology company in a wrongful termination and retaliation dispute involving challenges to workplace inclusion policies, providing strategic defense and resolving the matter in light of evolving regulatory landscapes
• Represented former executives in a multi-jurisdictional restrictive covenant dispute against a prior employer, deploying a coordinated defense and affirmative litigation strategy that enabled a favorable resolution while preserving the viability of the new business
• Served as ongoing employment counsel to a manufacturing company, advising on compliance and workforce management while consistently resolving discrimination and retaliation claims through early dismissals or low-value settlements

Publications & Speeches

Publications

•  Author, “Is Everyone ‘Disabled’ Under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act?”

Presentations & Speeches

•  Speaker, “The Great Debate: Argue to Level Up,” SHRM, November 2025
• Panelist, “Employment Law Updates,” O’Hagan Meyer, October 2025
• Panelist, “Breakfast Briefings: Illinois Employment Law Updates,” O’Hagan Meyer, November 2023
• Panelist, “The Marijuana Movement and its Impact on the Workplace,” ExecuSummit, April 2023
• Panelist, “Navigating Employment Law in the Age of Covid,” O’Hagan Meyer, March 2021
• Panelist, “CLM Webinar Series,” Allyship, January 2021
• Panelist, “Pardon the Interruption: Illinois Employment Law Updates,” O’Hagan Meyer, June 2020
• Panelist, “Diversity & Inclusion,” Gallagher, June 2020
• Panelist, “Breakfast Briefings: Employment Law Updates,” O’Hagan Meyer, February 2020
• Panelist, “Pardon the Interruption: Employment Law Updates,” O’Hagan Meyer, June 2019
• Panelist, “Pardon the Interruption: Illinois Employment Law Updates,” O’Hagan Meyer, November 2018

Professional

• Member, Professional Liability Attorney Network (PLAN)
• Member, Illinois State Bar Association
• Member, Asian American Bar Association
• Member, CLM