TED IS FROM NORWICH.

Theodore N. Phillips II was born and raised in Norwich, Connecticut, and was educated in the local public schools.  He was an honors student at the Norwich Free Academy, and graduated in 1974.  He was graduated cum laude from Tufts University in 1978, and from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1981.

Since passing the bar exam in 1981, he has been engaged in the private practice of law in Connecticut.  Ted started his career with Brown, Jacobson, Jewett & Laudone, working directly under Milton L. Jacobson.  In the early 1980’s, he left that firm with one of the partners and founded Taalman & Phillips, where he was managing partner.

Since 1992 he has been the owner of a boutique law firm bearing his name. Representative clients have included American Ambulance Service, Inc., The Norwich Bulletin, Saybrook Ford, Inc., United Community & Family Services, Inc., Arico Engineering, Inc., Mallon Chevrolet, Inc., The American Group, Russia2all.com (exclusive distributors of Vostok-Europe watches in North America), Benny’s of Connecticut, Inc., Eastern Federal Bank, and many other businesses and individuals throughout Connecticut.  His firm offers business counseling beyond the traditional legal guidance, including strategic planning and financial direction, leadership, team building and management succession, risk management, and public relations and branding. Ted has been the featured speaker at seminars and corporate retreats on these and other issues affecting business.

Ted is also admitted to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, and the United States Tax Court.

He previously served as Co-Chairman of the Connecticut Bar Association Young Lawyers Section on Commercial Law, and he is a past president of the New London County Bar Association, the youngest individual elected to that office at that time..

In 2000, the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce recognized Ted as the 50th Annual Citizen of the Year.

His practice is concentrated in the areas of commercial law, civil litigation, real estate and probate.  He donates annually more than $20,000 of legal services to churches, non-profit organizations, indigent clients, and in the representation of children. 

TED IS FOR NORWICH.

Born and raised in Norwich, Ted is committed to giving back to the community that has given him so much.

Ted is the founding Chairman (2004-2006) of the Board Directors of The Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce, Inc.  He served as Vice-Chairman and a Trustee of The Greater Norwich Area Business/Industry Foundation.  He served as President of the Board of Trustees of N.F.A. Foundation, Inc. from 1997 through 2009.  He is a Corporator and past Trustee of the Norwich Free Academy, where he served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.  

Ted's other activities include:

He is a past president of the Norwich Rotary Club, and is the youngest person elected to that position in the club's history.  As a Rotarian, he organized the club's participation in the Salvation Army Kettle Drive for two decades, and organized work crews that installed hand rails at St. Jude Commons, painted work areas at the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center, painted patient areas of Uncas on the Thames Hospital and cleared Lowthorpe Meadows, as well as worked on committees that built children's picnic tables as part of the "Make a Difference" campaign and other charitable efforts of the club.

The Rotary Club named him as a Paul Harris Fellow, the highest recognition given by Rotary to acknowledge outstanding service, and after time constraints forced him to resign from the club, he was named an Honorary Member. 

He served twice as president of the Norwich-Quinebaug Unit of the American Cancer Society, where he received a ten-year volunteer pin.

He is past president for two terms of the Board of Trustees of Otis Library, where he was on the Board of Trustees for a decade. 

He is past Parish Council member and treasurer of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Norwich, Connecticut. He served as a trustee of the Church's Endowment Fund.

He is a past director of Easter Seals of Southeastern Connecticut, for whom he worked on two telethons, and shared high fundraiser honors.  He also is a past director of the Business and Industry Foundation of Eastern Connecticut, Inc.

He is a corporator of the William W. Backus Hospital, where he served on the By-Laws Revision Committee.

He has served as a Celebrity Waiter for the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and Uncas on the Thames, and has been both a prisoner and a judge in American Cancer Society “Jail & Bail” fundraisers.  He also served as a master of ceremonies in United Community Services 120th Anniversary Telethon.

He volunteered in a work crew to clean up downtown Norwich before the first Chelsea Street Festival, and served on the City's Commission overseeing the Masonic Temple property until it was transferred to the Mohegan Tribe. 

Over the years he has volunteered his time to perform as Master of Ceremonies for many charitable and nonprofit events throughout the community, and has served in that capacity for several Citizen of the Year Ceremonies.  He has also been dunked in a three-piece suit and into ice water for the Harbor Day celebration.

He served as Chairman of the Otis Library's 150th Anniversary Committee, which had a year of activities to celebrate that institution's place in the Norwich Community.

He volunteered for CRIS, a nonprofit organization providing a radio information service for people who are print handicapped because of visual, physical or learning disabilities, having a weekly radio show with his son Michael where local newspapers and store circulars are read.

He is also a performing singer/songwriter, a BMI artist, and has been an active member of the Connecticut Songwriters' Association.

Attorney Phillips lives in Norwich with his wife, Jacqueline.  They have six adult children, Michael, Ted, Nina, Jara, Joseph and Jacob.