He was thanked in writing for his efforts by the American Federation of Labor, the Merchants' Association of New York, and prominent business houses in the city.
He also worked to compel street railroad companies to provide shelter stations at transfer points, fought to prevent four trolley tracks on Amsterdam Avenue, was a leader on the Ford Franchise Tax Bill that obliged corporations to pay their just share of taxation, passed a bill to provide for a Public Park, was instrumental in passing the Anti-Ramapo Bill, and was a member of the 1900 Joint Statutory Revision Committee that prepared plans to revise the state's laws.
He was nearly fifty at the time and had difficulty getting accepted into the armed forces, but he eventually became a captain in the Army and spent the war serving in Washington, D.C.[12] Phillips became clerk of Congregation Shearith Israel after his father's death, an office he held for 32 years.
In 1954, when he was 85, he was one of the two men who opened the synagogue's doors for a reconsecration ceremony as part of the national tercentenary celebration of the settlement of Jews in the United States.
He became a director of the Society in 1893, served as treasurer and honorary vice-president, and wrote at least ten articles for its Publications on his colonial American forebears and Congregation Shearith Israel (which his ancestors were prominently associated with for over 200 years).
[13] Phillips was vice-president of the Union of Orthodox Congregations of America, a director of the Home for Hebrew Infants and the Israel Orphan Asylum, and treasurer of the Columbia Religious and Industrial School for Jewish Girls, the Society Hebra Hased Va Amet, and the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society.
He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the New York County Lawyers' Association, the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Municipal Art Society, the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Law Committee of Tammany Hall, the American Red Cross, the Freemason, the Elks, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the American Legion,[9] and the Royal Arcanum.