The cyclist, singer, mentor, scholar, and professional teaser of Professor Shaffer
Professor Phillips is an incredibly accomplished Professor, historian, and legal scholar. When looking through his publications page on the U of T Law website, one has to scroll multiple times in order to make it to the bottom. He has served as a co-editor for numerous legal history essay collections and books on niche legal history topics, while also managing to write over 60 book chapters and journal articles. In his role as Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Society of Legal History, Professor Phillips has overseen the publication of more than 60 books since he began his tenure in 2006.
His contributions to the study of Canadian legal history have been so significant that even the American Society for Legal History (“ASLH”) elected him as an Honorary Fellow (American spelling and all). In discussing ProfessorPhillips’ election, the ASLH described their criteria for choosing Honorary Fellows as follows: “The scholars we elect as Honorary Fellows are distinguished not simply by scholarship that has shaped the broad discipline of legal history and influenced the work of others, but also by their commitment to building their fields and helping other, younger, scholars stand on their shoulders and carry the work forward.”
The professor and boss who sees and appreciates you
Students and scholars alike can vouch for the fact that Professor Phillips is not only brilliant, but is also a kind and helpful mentor. Zoe Brown (2L), who worked as his Research Assistant over the past summer, described Professor Phillips as a “charismatic, hilarious, and [an] understanding boss” who made an effort to get to know her. Natan Snowbell (3L) served as his RA the year before and expressed a similar sentiment: “[Professor Phillips was] always very encouraging and had interesting comments to make on any of the work I did. I also think he really makes more of an effort than most staff to connect with the student body at our level both individually and writ large.” Brown shared that she has never had a professor believe in her abilities as strongly as Professor Phillips did. Snowbell also shared one particularly kind and generous gesture from Professor Phillips that stuck out to him. At the end of their time working together, he took Natan and a few of his friends from law school out to dinner at his own cost. I cannot confirm whether they ate British food, I have heard that he still has a penchant for the food of his home country.
One time when I was in Professor Phillips’ 1L Property class, I brought one of my friends who was an incoming 1L to a lecture so she could get a sense of a typical law school class. After class, Professor Phillips came up to us, immediately recognizing that my friend wasn’t one of his usual students. I explained the situation and he was very friendly, introducing himself and talking with her to see what she thought of the class and her impending transition to law school. This is a memorable example of the connections Professor Phillips forms with his students and shows just how kind and approachable he is. While I don’t remember ever speaking up in Property Law, when I emailed him at the beginning of this year to ask him to add me to the Quercus page for Trusts, he said it was nice to have me in class again. The fact that I dropped Trusts is, for the purpose of this story, irrelevant. I appreciated the fact that he remembered me, despite my feeling like I was not a very memorable student.
Scholarship gap-filler
Professor Phillips has also co-authored two volumes on the history of Law in Canada with Philip Girard and R. Blake Brown. The trio has a third volume forthcoming in 2026, which will focus on the twentieth century. Not only have these volumes filled gaps in Canadian legal scholarship and received wide praise, but in Professor Phillips’ opinion, they can also serve as great stepping stools if you (like Professor Shaffer) find yourself needing some help reaching the top of a bookshelf. Volume II was the winner of the Canadian Law and Society Award for the best book published in 2022. Reviewers of the volumes have also praised Professor Phillips and his co-authors for “the care and sensitivity with which the volumes address Indigeneity and Indigenous law, colonialism, race, gender and the legal experiences of various minorities within Canadian law” and state they should be required reading for all Canadian historians.
The Osgoode Society of Legal History, for which Professor Phillips serves as the Editor-in-Chief, is an organization of various members of the legal community, including lawyers, judges, and academics, who are interested in Canadian legal history. The Society is dedicated to “advancing scholarship in Canadian legal history through its publications, by supporting emerging scholars through research grants, and by conferring prizes for scholarship in the field, all of which make the editor-in-chief’s role more critical.” Professor Phillips also led the development of his Legal History workshop at U of T Law, a forum in which scholars at all stages can share their ongoing projects and receive invaluable feedback. This workshop has gained and maintained a global presence since the pandemic moved it over to Zoom.
Recently, Professor Phillips has also been working on a book about the history of the law of divorce in Canada. ‘I Did Not Commit Adultery’: A Case Study of Marital Breakdown and the Law in Ontario, 1870-1885 will be published later this year. Professor Phillips’ sense of humour, which is well-known around the law school, evidently also extends to his book titles. In fact, many graduating classes have chosen Professor Phillips to provide their graduating addresses.
His signature attire of black-on-black is also well-known, though Professor Phillips used to favour plaid shirts. In the words of Professor Shaffer, Professor Phillips’ clerking companion-turned long-time friend, clothing coordination could be “a challenge” for him, so his black-on-black uniform eliminated any potential issues. Apparently when the pair were clerking together, Phillips would usually wear what she referred to as “weekend clothes’’ until he was called in to see his judge, when he would promptly change into a suit.
Earnest medal collector
In September 2024, Professor Phillips was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, joining its Faculty of Social Sciences. And only a few days before I began writing this article, the Law Society of Ontario announced that Professor Phillips has received the Law Society Medal for his significant contributions and dedication to the legal profession. This medal is a massive achievement and will go great with his David Walter Mundell Medal for Excellence in Legal Writing, which he was awarded by the Attorney General of Ontario in 2013. Professor Phillips’ inimitable role in the advancement of Canadian legal history means that the accolades I have highlighted in this article are far from his only ones, but he maintains a reputation for being extremely humble. Zoe Brown (2L) said, “He is simply the type of person that treats everyone, from students to faculty, and everyone in between, with the same degree of respect and kindness.” She described how, in her time as his RA, Professor Phillips would send her to the archives with ‘to-do lists’ of artifacts he wanted her to find. While some days she would find a lot, the nature of historical research is such that there were some days when she could not find anything he wanted. In response to the apologetic emails Zoe sent on these days, Professor Phillips would always respond encouragingly, boosting her confidence and reassuring her that he knew she was doing her best. He always welcomed her questions and never made her feel like a bother, always maintaining his down-to-earth attitude: “His professional experience and qualifications certainly afford him the right to be immodest, yet he is one of the most humble people [at] the Faculty of Law.” Professor Phillips evidently also recognizes the importance of work-life balance and extends it to students working with him. When Christine Wang (4L) was serving as his Casebook Research Assistant a few years ago, he told her on their last day together that her final assignment for him was to “go out and enjoy the sunshine.”
Fierce volunteer
Professor Phillips is an avid enjoyer of the sunshine himself, rolling into the law school every day with his bike in tow. He has always been an avid athlete. When he and Professor Shaffer first became friends during their SCC clerkships, Professor Phillips was “a very serious runner.” He doesn’t keep his passion for cycling to himself, either, regularly donating guided tours to the annual Promise Auction and engaging with students who share his interest. Ben Merrell (3L) was in Professor Shaffer’s small group in 1L and mentioned his passion for cycling during their year-end small group dinner (where Professor Phillips was of course in attendance because #besties). Over the summer, between Merrell’s 1L and 2L years, Professor Phillips took him out biking three to four times, showing him various trails around Toronto. As someone new to the city, Merrell really appreciated this gesture. He also felt that he got to see a different side of Professor Phillips when they were out together: “He is pretty ferocious on the road.”
Professor Phillips also contributes to the student body in other, more traditional ways. Given his comedic inclinations, it makes sense that Professor Phillips is both a regular attendee and an actor for various Follies skits. If you missed seeing this year’s Law Follies skit in which he used Gen Z slang, I’m sorry for your loss. Professor Phillips is also a supporter of Ultra Vires! The Moot Court Committee reached out to me to express their gratitude to me for his regular judging of competitive moot and Grand Moot tryouts. On the MCC’s behalf, Olivia Schenk (3L) said: “He is always eager and generous with his time. Exceptionally so.”
Generous comrade and teacher
Before starting his teaching career, Professor Phillips obtained both his PhD, focusing on British Imperial History, and then his LLB, from Dalhousie University. He then served as an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie for four years before clerking for Madame Justice Bertha Wilson, the first female judge to serve on the Supreme Court of Canada. Having completed a PhD prior to law school and having taught for a few years prior to clerkship, Phillips was a bit older than some of the others with whom he clerked. They looked up to him, metaphorically (and physically, in the case of Professor Shaffer). He had a reputation for being one of the most efficient clerks and his skills were relied on by his comrades—a term of address he liked to use in many of the memos he wrote to fellow clerks. At the time Professors Phillips and Shaffer were clerking, several Charter cases were hitting the SCC. Although their workload practically doubled, the number of clerks did not. If another clerk got behind, Professor Phillips was always willing to lend his precedents and help them out. Phillips somehow found the time to write ‘joke’ memos to his comrades..because of course he did. While we unfortunately cannot divulge a memo, it’s easy to imagine that they were a much-needed morale booster for those clerks, amidst their grappling with heavy workloads and other pressing and substantial objectives.
Professor Phillips joined U of T Law after completing his clerkship for Justice Wilson. Having been with the Faculty for so long, he has had the chance to shape many amazing legal minds—some of whom followed in his footsteps and went on to become U of T Law professors themselves. Professors Abraham Drassinower, Hamish Stewart, Ian Lee, and Douglas Sanderson all had the privilege of being Professor Phillips’ students (a great club that I’d like to again point out I am also a part of…though I’m not seeing professorship in my future). Although he is retiring this year, Professor Phillips is far from leaving law school: he will still be teaching First Year Property and his Legal History Workshop next year!
“Danny Boy” enthusiast
Even though he is still teaching regularly, Professor Phillips’ retirement will hopefully bring a bit more time for him to enjoy the sunshine and spend more time on one of his favourite hobbies: singing. I can also assume he will also be simultaneously continuing another favourite hobby: making short jokes about Professor Shaffer (don’t worry, in his words–“she likes them!”). Professor Phillips’ described his decision to take up singing as a “mid-life crisis.” It was cheaper than a sports car–though it’s hard to imagine Professor Phillips trading in his beloved bike for a sports car. Before he started taking lessons, Phillips was told that he would never be able to learn to sing, but obviously that didn’t stop him. He has now been singing for around twenty years. Learning to sing “Danny Boy” was one of his big achievements. Otherwise, his repertoire (unsurprisingly) includes traditional English folk songs. Sadly, I don’t believe he has ever performed for the student body, yet…
Professor Phillips is a brilliant scholar and, arguably, an even nicer person. He goes above and beyond for his students. He has many memorable traits–including but not limited to–his quick wit, wonderful friendship with Professor Shaffer, love for cycling, openness about his political views, monochrome outfits, and–of course–a plethora of significant academic accomplishments. The Faculty of Law is incredibly lucky to have had–and thankfully to largely continue to have–someone like Professor Phillips. I know he has made an impact on a lot of us, and I am sure he will continue to do so for his future students. But still, I know that we all wish you the very best (and ideally, at least some small semblance of rest) in your retirement, Professor Phillips!