News & Insights

Former Navy JAG Prosecutor Phillip Pullen Returns to Lightfoot, Franklin & White

April 16, 2025

Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC is pleased to welcome litigator Phillip J. Pullen back to the firm as a lateral associate in the Birmingham office. His practice will focus on product liability, medical malpractice, serious personal injury and commercial litigation. 

Pullen rejoins Lightfoot after more than four years as trial counsel for the Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, where he prosecuted a broad range of civil and criminal cases, including landlord/tenant disputes, murder, larceny, theft of government property, drug offenses and sexual assault. Throughout his last two years with the Navy, he led a team of JAG attorneys and paralegals as a prosecutor, assisting the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). 

Prior to the JAG Corps, Pullen was a 2018 Lightfoot summer clerk and later an associate with the firm in 2019 before leaving for military service. During that time, he handled a wide variety of matters, including commercial litigation, product liability and appellate cases.

“We are thrilled to welcome Phil back to the firm,” said Melody H. Eagan, the firm’s managing partner. “His extensive trial experience, sharpened through years of military service, is exactly what we value in our litigators. Just as importantly, he’s already a trusted part of our firm culture as a lawyer who reflects our values and delivers for our clients. We’re so proud to have him back on the team.” 

Pullen earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was a competing member of the Holderness International Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Team and was an executive board member of the Broun National Trial Team. In his final year of law school, Phil was inducted into the James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Society. He received his Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.