John Michael Phillips (born February 4, 1975) is an American lawyer, consumer and civil rights advocate, and legal commentator.

He also is lead counsel for Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, and is featured in four episodes of the second season of the Netflix show Tiger King.

[6] On November 14, 2017, Phillips resigned from the Commission in order to relieve any perceived conflict before filing multiple civil rights lawsuits against the City of Jacksonville.

During one of those lawsuits, during a deposition of the elected Sheriff, Phillips offered to settle the case if he apologized for the police brutality on video.

[9] Phillips started his career as a civil litigation defense attorney, defending companies like Coca-Cola, Hertz and State Farm from injury claims.

The movie is called The Armor of Light and features Phillips' story alongside his client Lucy McBath and Reverend Rob Schenck.

He filed a lawsuit against Carole Baskin and others in early August seeking to obtain more information about the disappearance of Don Lewis and amended it to assert an action for defamation on behalf of Anne McQueen, which is pending.

[19] To promote information gathering, the family and Phillips ran a commercial during Baskin's appearance on Dancing with the Stars, which went viral.

[22] “We’re going to seek a new trial, and justice in the criminal and civil courts,” Philips said after flying to visit Maldonado-Passage at Fort Worth’s Federal Medical Center.

On August 18, 2018, it was announced that Phillips and his firm are representing Omarosa Manigault Newman in both arbitration and litigation arising out of her employment with Donald Trump, both at his political campaign and presidency.

[24] Phillips defeated former President Donald J. Trump and his Campaign's efforts to enforce a nondisclosure agreement against Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House aide and a star on “The Apprentice” who wrote a tell-all book about serving in his administration.

Although he is known for his work in personal injury and wrongful death cases, he stopped George Zimmerman when he was trying to sell his client's copyrighted photograph of notorious prosecutor Angela Corey as a painting [27] and also successfully represented an Orlando man who made "Left Shark" 3-D figurines against claims of copyright infringement by singer Katy Perry.

[28] Phillips also represents Wonkette, an American online magazine of topical and political gossip, and its publisher Rebecca Schoenkopf.

Howard Schneider was charged in a scheme to defraud Medicaid, but the allegations against him also included abuse and performing unnecessary dentistry on children, telling parents that he needed to work on one tooth and extracting several.

Although he was found incompetent to stand trial, he lost his license to practice and much of his status in the community and a confidential settlement was reached.

[30] Phillips was interviewed on Nancy Grace,[31] Anderson Cooper,[citation needed] Nightline,[32] Crime Watch Daily,[33] and others about the case.

[35] The $4 verdict was reversed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals after Phillips argued the trial judge erred by allowing in inappropriate evidence.

Kalil McCoy, of Jacksonville, Florida, was shot in the head by Frederick Lee Wade, 19, while they rode in a car with four other friends, after an argument about opening a window.

[41] Additionally, Phillips has handled several other nationally reported cases, including a woman was run over while sunbathing on Daytona Beach, for which he was interviewed on The Today Show.

[42] Good Morning America also filmed and broadcast portions of this trial in 2014, where Phillips can be seen hugging his client after a $2.6 million verdict.

[49] It was acquired by an entity known as Boldland Press, Inc., which Phillips is listed as controlling on SunBiz, Florida's corporate record search engine.