Philip Ehrlich is an associate in the litigation and enforcement group and focuses his practice on complex civil litigation and appeals. Philip has represented clients at all levels of state and federal courts and has experience drafting dispositive motions and appellate briefs, assisting in discovery, and preparing for trial. Philip has also counseled clients on how state and national COVID-related public health orders affect their businesses.

Philip maintains an active pro bono litigation practice. He successfully represented three asylum applicants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo before the Chicago Immigration Court, and he is a member of teams currently representing an asylum applicant from Honduras and working to defend the legality of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Philip previously clerked for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, Illinois. During law school, he was an articles editor for The University of Chicago Law Review and a member of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic. Philip also externed with the Honorable Andrea R. Wood of the Northern District of Illinois and interned with the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

Before law school, Philip worked as a consultant at an economic consulting firm in Chicago and taught middle school math in Glendale, Arizona through Teach for America. 

Experience

  • Defending major pharmacy companies, grocers, and a physical therapy provider in cases alleging fraud and violations of several states’ consumer-protection statutes.
  • Representing global investment firm sued by algorithmic traders and arbitrageurs alleging breach of contract and negligence.
  • Assisted in defending a private equity company against a series of mass tort lawsuits brought in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, including securing summary judgment on the eve of jury selection in a bellwether trial.
  • Represented a private equity company in qui tam lawsuit related to alleged violations of the False Claims Act, including a successful appeal, which addressed an issue of first impression related to the first-to-file bar in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
  • Represented Fortune 500 company in a contract and consumer-fraud suit involving dispositive motion practice and a six-day trial stemming from a data security breach.
  • Secured the dismissal with prejudice under the public-disclosure bar of a False Claims Act case against a private equity firm. 
  • Represented a beverage distributor in Delaware litigation involving former executive alleging ownership stake in company.
  • Part of the Ropes & Gray team involved in defending the legality of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
  • Successfully represented three asylum applicants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo before the Chicago Immigration Court, establishing a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of political opinion and activities.
  • Represented Alabama death row inmate Christopher Lee Price in his expedited Eighth Amendment challenge to Alabama's lethal injection protocol.

Areas of Practice