Phillips Workman—Seeking To Make A Difference

(Editor’s Note: The following profile of Phillips Workman, a Monticello native, was printed in the University of Georgia’s School of Law magazine, Advocate, Volume 51, 2017. It is printed here with permission of the University of Georgia School of Law. )

By EMILY JOHNSON

Rising second-year law student Phillips Stone Workman grew up in the close-knit community of Monticello, Georgia, and it was there he saw the impact that legal professionals could have in a small town.

“Growing up where there may have been five lawyers in the whole county really spoke to me,” Workman said. “I saw the difference a lawyer can make in his or her free time, and it was powerful to witness how much someone with a legal education can do for their own community.”

Despite his love for Monticello, Workman attended Clemson University for his undergraduate degree. After his freshman year, he interned in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston. “That was a great experience – it was very fast-paced, and I met a lot of really neat people,”he said.

During his senior year, the history and political science major landed a semester-long internship at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas. Workman spent most of his time in the presidential library and gained high-level research skills.

“President Bush always called me ‘Clemson guy,’” Workman said. “I enjoyed the objective of what they are doing there because it is so unique – they conduct lots of research, focus on women’s issues in the developing world, take stances on education, study veterans’ issues and more. People are still really interested in President Bush.”

After graduating in 2015, Workman applied to law schools around the country.

“I chose UGA for law school after I met Dean [Peter B. “Bo”] Rutledge and [Associate Director of Law Admissions] Shannon S. Hinson (J.D.’06),” he said. “They portrayed UGA as a place where everyone could be happy in law school, and that’s what drove me here.”

When he’s not studying, Workman enjoys swing and shag dancing, playing piano at UGA’s Hodgson School of Music and playing basketball with his law school friends every Friday after classes are over.

While his first semester of law school was a time of adjustment, Workman said he still enjoyed the study of law.

“There’s no shortcut to succeeding in law school, and I think that may have been the hardest part,” he said. “You really have to embrace the grind.”

One aspect of his law school career of which he is proud is being named the recipient of the Gerald S. Tanenbaum Distinguished Law Scholarship.

“During winter break in 2016, Mr. Tanenbaum and his wife [Gretchen] invited me over to their house in Charleston for dinner,” he said. “I cannot express my gratitude for their generosity.”

Professionally, Workman aspires to influence the world around him, much like Tanenbaum (J.D.’70) and the lawyers he knew back home.

He also hopes to become the general counsel of a large university in the long term. “The benefits to this career are endless,” he said. “I would get to live in a college town, teach a little bit and solve a new problem every day, and that excites me.”

Phillips is the son of Stone and Jean Workman of Monticello, and a graduate of Jasper County High School.