Stacy D. Phillips

Stacy D. Phillips
Partner
Matrimonial & Family Law

Biography

Stacy D. Phillips is one of the country’s most well-known and respected family law practitioners, specializing in high-net-worth and high-profile divorce and custody cases. For four decades, she has guided clients through matrimonial transitions for four decades, including:

  • Divorces with highly complex financial matters
  • Challenging custody disputes
  • Domestic violence matters
  • Same-sex dissolutions
  • Paternity cases
  • Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements.

Her clients include prominent celebrities, musicians, religious figures, business executives and athletes. She is adept at navigating her teams of professionals through what sometimes turns into high-profile public discourse in the media and courtrooms.

Legal Practice and Leadership

As founder of the Los Angeles office of Blank Rome’s Matrimonial and Family Law Practice, Ms. Phillips helped build the practice by recruiting Kristina Royce (now Co-Chair), Ashley Silberfeld and their team. A Certified Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, Phillips is known for her skilled persuasion, negotiation, advocacy, and compassion in representing her clients, whether in litigation, mediation, or collaborative divorce. Her trusted team features a “who’s who” of top experts in psychology and counseling, forensic accounting, wealth management, and addiction, to name a few.

Legislative Impact

Ms. Phillips assisted in drafting Senate Bill 924, a bill to extend the limitations period within which domestic violence victims can sue their abusers in California.

Ms. Phillips is Chair of the Board of Los Angeles-based Public Counsel, (the largest non-profit law firm in the country) a group which she has helped lead since 2018, having served as Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice Chair.

Community Impact

Ms. Phillips is also nationally known for giving back to the community through mentorship. Twenty-six years ago, Ms. Phillips founded the “Adopt-A-Center Program,” which Blank Rome later co-opted. Each year the firm adopts an Los Angeles based charity, providing exposure, financial support and career mentoring for its constituents. She also had a women’s networking and mentoring idea, which later became the firm’s Women’s Leadership Summit, an event now in its 9th year.

In the News

More than a divorce lawyer, Ms. Phillips is a philanthropist, thought leader, speaker, panel host, a trusted advisor, a published author (“Divorce: It’s All About Control”), a podcast host and a highly-networked community leader.

She is sought-after commentator on family law and other issues in the news having been feature in the news having been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, Law.com and Bloomberg among others.

Ms. Phillips also pens a monthly "Ask Stacy" matrimonial advice column, providing readers and social media followers with sage experience, and professional and personal anecdotes.

She has written extensively about her experiences married to an alcoholic and dedicates significant time to advocacy for spouses of addicts. She has recently finished recording the first season of a new, 12-episode podcast: "Stacy Phillips & Friends."

Personally, Ms. Phillips is a renowned connector, having planned hundreds of professional and personal networking events in Beverly Hills, the greater Los Angeles , New York, and Washington, D.C. area s. Her events - some exclusively for women leaders - regularly bring together thought leaders with high-net-worth individuals, clients, prospects, and even celebrity glitterati.

A comprehensive summary of Stacy’s information, activities, and community involvement is available in a printable PDF format that you can download here.

Outside the Firm

Stacy is the proud mother of two adult children and an enthusiastic supporter of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Experience

Stacy is a sought-after commentator on matrimonial issues in the news, having appeared on numerous local and national radio and television shows including:

  • NBC The Today Show
  • ABC News 20/20
  • ABC Good Morning America
  • CBS News Sunday Morning
  • BBC News
  • CNN Headline News
  • Fox Business News
  • MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell
  • MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show
  • VH1 All Access – Celebrity Breakups
  • HLN Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell
  • Access Hollywood
  • E! Entertainment News
  • Dr. Drew Show

News & Views

See all News and Views

Recognitions

  • 2024, “Blank Rome Pro Bono Award”
  • 2024, again named by Los Angeles Business Journal “LA 500 – The Most Influential People in LA” (2016–present); “Top 100 Lawyers” (2022–23), “Most Influential Women Attorneys (2018-present), “Best of the Bar” (2007), “Women Who Made a Difference Award” (2001), and “50 Most Powerful Women in Los Angeles Law” (1998)
  • 2023, "Champion of Mentorship," listed in Los Angeles Business Journal, one of six new honors last year
  • 2021, “Blank Rome Bonnie Glantz Fatell Women’s Advocacy and Leadership Award”
  • Honored as “Woman of the Year” in 2018 by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women
  • Named “Altruist of the Year” by Modern Luxury Magazine, “Enterprising Women of the Year” by Enterprising Women Magazine (both 2015), and “Volunteer of the Year/Dynamic Women of Los Angeles by Angeleno Magazine (2014)
  • Named “Top Family Lawyer” in 2022 (the inception of the award) and 2023 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal, “Top Women Lawyer” since the award’s inception in 2003 through the present, and “Top 20 Lawyers in LA Under the Age of 40” (1998)
  • Selected as a Top 10 Southern California Super Lawyer (2010–2011, 2013–present), Top 50 Women Southern California Super Lawyer (2005–present), Top 100 Southern California Lawyer (2006–present), and Southern California Super Lawyer in Family Law (2004–present) by Super Lawyers
  • Included among the industry’s national elite in 2020 in Lawdragon's “Top 500 Hall of Fame” and “Top 500 Leading Family Lawyers,” as well as “Top 500 Leading Lawyers in America” (2006–2013, 2018–2020)
  • Received the Comerica Bank “Women of Philanthropy Award” in 2014 and “Power Philanthropist Award” from STARCARE in 2009
  • Named a “Women Leader in the Law” from 2010–2012 by The Recorder
  • Received the “Jurisprudence Award” (2009) from the Anti-Defamation League, “Spirit of Hope Award” (2008) from Tower Cancer Research Foundation, “Women to Watch Award” (2005) by Jewish Women International, and “Women of Achievement Award” by AMIT (2005), “Women of Accomplishment Award” by B’nai Zion Foundation (2001), and “Women of Action Award” (2000) by Israel Cancer Research Fund
  • Ranked in Family Law in Best Lawyers in America (2003–present)
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV-Preeminent attorney (1991–present)

Affiliations

Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
  • Beverly Hills Bar Association
  • International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association
Professional Activities

Stacy has achieved significant professional accomplishments throughout her career, both in and outside of the firm, including:

  • Author, Divorce: It’s All About Control – How to Win the Emotional, Psychological, and Legal Wars (ExecuProv Press) Seventh printing in 2016.
  • Blank Rome Adopt-A-Center Program—Stacy founded (in 1999) and serves as the Advisory Board Chair of this initiative, which annually recognizes and supports a different local non-profit organization that benefits under-served and at-risk children and families in Los Angeles.
  • California’s Senate Bill 924—Stacy assisted in drafting legislation extending the limitations period for victims of domestic violence to sue their abusers in civil court and testified in support of the bill before the State Assembly Judiciary Committee.
  • Volunteer Mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Court—Since 2012, Stacy has served on a court-appointed team, mediating complex cases for the Family Law Court.

Stacy has also been active in professional groups and community causes throughout her career, and has taken leadership roles in numerous organizations, including:

  • The Trusteeship, the Southern California Chapter of the International Women’s Forum
  • Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services – Board of Directors, 1999–2004
  • Affordable Living for the Aging – Board of Trustees, 1997–2013, Board of Directors, 1991–1997, President, 2016
  • Legal Momentum – Board of Directors, 2002–2012
  • Women Presidents Organization, Los Angeles Chapter
  • Super Lawyers Advisory Board, 2010–present
  • Public Counsel – Board of Directors, 2018–present

In 1990, Stacy co-founded The Phillips Samuels Victor Fund for the Dartmouth College Ethics Institute.

Credentials

Admissions

  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • California
  • U.S. District Court - Central District of California

Education

  • Dartmouth College, BA, cum laude
  • Columbia University School of Law, JD

A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.

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