Phil Sechler

Phil Sechler serves as Of Counsel on the Allied Legal Affairs team at Alliance Defending Freedom, which is dedicated to recruiting, engaging with, and strategically deploying over 5,000 attorneys aligned with ADF’s mission to protect and promote life, religious liberty, free speech, marriage and family, and parental rights. He also teaches at Georgetown University Law Center and chairs a hearing committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility.

Before joining ADF, Sechler had a long career in private practice, with substantial first-chair trial experience in courts around the country on a variety of complex litigation matters. Sechler spent most of his career as a partner in the powerhouse law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. He was also a partner in the litigation boutique of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner LLP.

In August 2013, Sechler took a break from law practice to become a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Penn State Law School, where he spent four years teaching courses in Evidence, Professional Responsibility, and Advocacy. He also taught at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he continues to teach a course on Professional Responsibility.

Sechler received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from Pennsylvania State University, and he earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated summa cum laude and was Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

Sechler is an active member of both the District of Columbia Bar and the Virginia Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and trial courts.