Public Service: Megan Phillips

Judicial Law Clerk, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri

St. Louis

Megan Phillips, a public servant with 18 years of experience in the courts, was drawn to working in public service through a love of clerking.

Initially drawn to the law by her passion for women’s advocacy, she serendipitously found her calling in clerkships, beginning in the Missouri Supreme Court with Judge Ronnie White. Phillips now clerks for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, while simultaneously serving as an adjunct professor at St. Louis University School of Law.

“I fell into clerking by accident, and I just knew it was going to be my calling,” she said. “I love the people I work with and for. They’re so smart, selfless and dedicated to serving the judiciary and the citizens of our state.”

Phillips emphasizes the important role law clerks play in communicating judicial decisions to the public. Her role consists of case management and legal research and writing in a wide variety of cases — from civil rights to contract disputes.  

“We have a lot of different audiences,” she said. “We’re writing for the litigants and lawyers, and other judges and lawyers who might read the opinion. We’re also writing for the public, hopefully in a way that instills confidence in the judiciary. The goal in our work is to show careful, impartial consideration in the decisions that affect people’s lives.

Recently, Phillips took a one-year hiatus from clerking to pursue her other passion: serving as the president of the Missouri Bar from 2023-2024. 

In this role, Phillips enacted significant initiatives including a judicial internship program to expand statewide judicial clerkship opportunities for law students from underrepresented backgrounds, and a high school outreach project to feed the profession’s pipeline and foster confidence in the legal system.

“I found it really rewarding to try to make a difference,” she said. “What I learned early on is that if you actually set aside the time to roll up your sleeves and do the work — identify something where you can move the needle — you can actually make things better.”