Profile
Tamara J. Phillips graduated cum laude and was awarded the President’s Achievement Award from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1997, where she served as a case note editor on Cooley’s Law Review. She worked full time as an intern at the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office during her final two years of law school and upon graduation was hired as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. She served in that office for 28 years, the last eight years as Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney.
Tammy has tried scores of criminal felony jury trials in Genesee County including the prosecution of a serial stabber of 15 victims, a serial rapist, and numerous child abusers. Her specialty was crimes involving sexual assault, strangulation, and intimate partner violence. She also served as a Special Prosecutor handling high profile cases in Wayne, Ingham, and Saginaw counties. She has authored briefs, and argued cases before the Michigan Court of Appeals, taught Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure and Evidence, lectured extensively on jury selection and trial practice, and served on numerous non-profit boards. She is turning her decades of experience in litigation and negotiation and her knowledge of the criminal justice system and county government to focus on law enforcement and municipal defense and labor relations and employment matters, including educational and training programs for businesses, school districts and local governments to avoid discrimination-based lawsuits.
Her undergraduate degree was received in International Relations and French from Michigan State University’s James Madison College. She has been married to husband Randy for 34 years. They have one adult daughter and son-in -law who are parents to their only grandson. Spartacus the lab/pit bull rounds out the family. Tammy is an enthusiastic downhill skier, loves cooking, boating, reading, sewing, and is an avid traveler who has visited 14 countries and all the continents except Antarctica. She volunteers with her mom at the Davison Historical Society.
Employment
- Of Counsel at Harvey Kruse, 2025-Present
- Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office, 1997-2025
Organizations
- Genesee County Bar Association
- ARMA, International
- ARMA, Michigan – Board of Directors
- Voices for Children – Board of Directors, Past President
Honors & Awards
- American Jurisprudence Award, Criminal Law (1994)
- Award of Excellence, Scholarly Writing (1994)
- Award of Excellence, Evidence (1995)
- President’s Achievement Award (1997)
- Academic Scholarship, Thomas M. Cooley Law School (1994-1997)
- Professional Excellence Award, Michigan State Police (2012)
- Distinguished Faculty, Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan (2018)