Matthew T. Phillips JD

EMAIL: phillimt@wfu.edu

PHONE: (336) 758-2537

OFFICE: Farrell 330

Matthew Phillips is a teaching professor of business law & ethics and Exxon-Calloway Faculty Fellow. He works across disciplines and contexts, exploring issues of purpose, ethics, and professional identity with grounding in history and an orientation toward innovation.

Matthew recently served as associate provost for strategic initiatives. He is a 2025 ACC Academic Leadership Fellow, past president of his international discipline academy, and past president of Wake Forest's faculty senate. He is the senior uniformed lawyer and a member of the national commander's staff in the Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary of the United States Air Force, where he provides counsel in the management of the 70,000-member organization and leads a large group of volunteer lawyers addressing complex operational and regulatory issues.

He has received awards for excellence in teaching, including the "Ideas Worth Teaching" Award from the Aspen Institute in 2017, and he was named the 2015 Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher by the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. He previously served as associate dean for MBA programs and director of an academic center.

Matthew received undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest and a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University, where he focused on the intersections of law and religion in American history. He has done additional academic work, concentrating on leadership and strategy, at the U.S. Air Force's Air University. He is admitted to practice law before state and federal courts of North Carolina, the United States Tax Court, and the United States Supreme Court. He is certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission as a Superior Court Mediator (currently inactive).

Business Ethics; Professions and Professional Ethics; Character and Leadership; Law; Foundations of Law; Property Rights; Non-Profit Management; Dispute Resolution; Mediation; Law and Religion; Income Tax; Estate Planning and Administration; Trust Administration

• Property Rights
• Business Ethics
• Professions and Professional Ethics
• Philosophical and Economic Foundations of Business Law