Jean K. Gilles Phillips


Jean Phillips
  • Director, Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies
  • Director, Clinical Programs
  • Connell Teaching Professor of Law
  • Clinical Professor of Law
She/her/hers

Biography

Jean Phillips joined the law school in 1996 as a supervising attorney in the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies, and became director in 1999. She is currently serving as director of clinical programs, a role she also filled from 2003-2005. She received the Frederick J. Moreau award in 2003. The award is given annually to a faculty member who, in the eyes of law students, has been particularly helpful in advising and counseling students. Prior to joining the faculty, she clerked for the Hon. Robert J. Lewis of the Kansas Court of Appeals. Phillips then joined the Appellate Defender Office. During her four years as an assistant appellate defender, she spent two years working at the Defender Project assisting students in the preparation of appellate briefs. She is a 1990 graduate of the law school. Phillips was named a Connell Teaching Professor of Law in 2020.

Education

J.D., University of Kansas School of Law, 1990
B.A., Augustana College, 1987

Research

  • Fourth Amendment
  • Fifth Amendment
  • Sixth Amendment
  • Post-conviction
  • Ethics and criminal defense

Admitted

Kansas 1990; 10th Circuit 1996; Supreme Court 2002.

Career History

Research Attorney, Hon. Robert J. Lewis, Jr., Kansas Court of Appeals 1990-92; Assistant Appellate Defender, Appellate Defender Office, Topeka, Kansas 1992-96; Supervising Attorney, Paul E. Wilson Defender Project 1996-98; Associate Clinical Professor and Director Paul E. Wilson Defender Project since 1999.

Teaching

Criminal Practice in Kansas, Criminal Procedure, Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies

Selected Publications

  • "Self-Defense: What’s a Jury Got To Do With It?," 57 Kansas Law Review 1143 (2009).
  • “The Insanity of the Mens Rea Model: Due Process and the Abolition of the Insanity Defense,” 28 Pace Law Review 455 (2008).
  • "Federal Habeas Corpus for Trial Lawyers," 73 Journal of the Kansas Bar Association 20 (January 2004).
  • "Who Decides: The Allocation of Powers Between the Lawyer and the Client in a Criminal Case," 71 Journal of the Kansas Bar Association 28 (October 2000).
  • Contributing Author, Practice under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, ABA Section of Criminal Justice (Aspen Law and Business, 3rd Edition, 1993) (Supplement, 1998).

Memberships

Clinical Legal Education Association; National Legal Aid and Defense Association; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Kansas Bar Association; Treasurer, Board of Legal Services for Prisoners Inc.; Continuing Legal Education Commission