James Dickson Phillips Jr. (September 23, 1922 – August 27, 2017) was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Born in Scotland County, North Carolina, Phillips grew up in Laurinburg, North Carolina and attended its public schools. He graduated from high school in 1939 as the salutatorian of his graduating class. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree Phi Beta Kappa in 1943 from Davidson College and a Juris Doctor in 1948 from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was associate editor of the school's law review and a member of the Order of the Coif.^[1]

Phillips served as the assistant director of the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill, North Carolina from 1948 until 1949, and then he worked in private law practice in Laurinburg from 1949 until 1955. From 1955 until 1959, he worked in private law practice in Fayetteville, North Carolina. From 1960 until 1964, Phillips was a lecturer and an associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. He then became a professor of law at the same institution from 1964 until 1978, specializing in procedural law. He concurrently served as the school's dean from 1964 until 1974.^[1]