Mr. Terry Gerard Phillips

DeKalb County Law Department

Terry Phillips is a Deputy County Attorney for the DeKalb County Law Department where he helps manage the office of over 30 staff members.  He provides advice and counsel to County officials, boards and departments, including the Chief Executive Officer, Board of Commissioners, Board of Registration and Elections, Public Safety, Public Works, Human Resources, Finance, Purchasing and Contracting, and Public Information Office.  Highlights of his practice include supervising in-rem litigation, the elections team, the County’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and intergovernmental relations and contracting with federal and state agencies, as well as local municipalities, SPLOST and E-HOST, media relations, and compliance with open records and open meeting requirements. 

Mr. Phillips has practiced law in Georgia since 1995 and represented DeKalb County since 1998, including serving as Judge Pro Hac Vice, staff attorney for the Police Department, and Assistant Director of Purchasing, Contracting, and Legal Affairs.  He is a proud graduate of Southwest DeKalb High School and Howard University.  He studied Constitutional Interpretation under United States Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun at the Universite D’Aix-Marseille, Faculte de Droit, in Aix-en-Provence, France and earned the degree of Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University, where he was appointed to Wex S. Malone American Inn of Court for his outstanding performance in trial advocacy.  He has earned certification as a Certified Public Purchasing Officer by the National Institute of Government Procurement and a Certified Contract Compliance Officer from the American Contract Compliance Association.  His associations include serving as President of both the DeKalb Bar Association and DeKalb Lawyers Association, a State Bar of Georgia Unlicensed Practice of Law District 4 Committee Member, and Leadership DeKalb. He has also served as a consultant and/or volunteer to a number of organizations, including the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta’s Volunteer Involvement Program, DeKalb County Chiefs’ Association, Inc. and DeKalb County PAL Plus, Inc.  He is most proud of and thankful for his lovely wife and their two children.