Deborah Phillips

Deborah Phillips joined Sheuerman, Martini & Tabari in April 2007, after devoting the first fourteen years of her legal career to defense of licensed health care providers in administrative and civil litigation proceedings. Ms. Phillips has worked within the field of health care since graduating from the Presbyterian University Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She began her career as a registered nurse working in the cardiac transplantation and open heart surgery unit at Presbyterian University Hospital, before relocating to California where she continued her clinical practice in the CCU and Cardiac Research Unit at University of California at San Diego Medical Center, and followed that by return to cardiac transplantation and open heart surgery units at Stanford Medical Center. She completed training as a Cardiovascular Nurse Specialist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital-Texas Medical Center of Houston and followed that with positions of clinical and nursing leadership at St. Luke’s Hospital and Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, Herrick Hospital in Berkeley, Valley Care Medical Center in Livermore, and San Ramon Rehabilitation Hospital. As an experienced health care provider, she is a strong advocate for other health care providers facing legal issues. Ms. Phillips has defended over one hundred cases brought by the California Board of Registered Nursing and the California Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Technicians. She has substantial experience in civil litigation of professional liability claims, including fraud, contract, medical malpractice and Elder Abuse cases. Ms. Phillips holds a B.A. in Health Services Administration from St. Mary’s College of Moraga and obtained her JD from John F. Kennedy University School of Law in 1992. She has a consulting practice in nursing education and has taught numerous health related classes, including legal issues in medicine and nursing, at Chabot College School of Nursing and the California State University campuses at Hayward and San Francisco. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys and the Contra Costa Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in the superior courts in the State of California, as well as the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California and the U.S. Supreme Court. She maintains an inactive license with the California Board of Registered Nursing.