Phillip Johnson Brookins

Phillip Johnson Brookins

Phillip Johnson Brookins, 76, Esquire died March 3, 2021. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He was a person who never met a stranger, often striking up conversations with people he passed on the street. A kind and caring man, he never hesitated to help a friend in need. Phillip was able to see the good in people, and that quality endeared him to all he met. Some of his favorite activities were "bonding projects" with his son, walking and sledding with his grandchildren and daughter-in-law, golfing with his son and nephew, and spending time with his brothers and sisters.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was an outstanding student of mathematics, physics and chemistry at Harvard University, DePauw University, and Lanier High School, Class of 1962. Phillip also starred in track and field at DePauw and Lanier. He earned the Phi Beta Kappa Key and prestigious Danforth and Fulbright national fellowships upon graduation at DePauw University in 1966 and studied Mathematical Physics in Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz Germany for a year. He then enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as a doctoral student in Applied Mathematics and Physics from 1967 to 1970, following which he was Instructor in Mathematics at Talladega College for a year.

In 1971 he was admitted to Harvard Law School where he earned his Juris Doctor in 1974. Phillip was admitted to the Bar in Mississippi in September 1974, serving on the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund legal team for a year in New York, he returned to Jackson in 1975 and worked for Anderson, Banks, Nichols & Stewart until 1978 when he began a partnership practice as Walker, Brookins & Walker. His compassion, meticulousness, and ability to see all the different angles of a problem, allowed him to excel at appellate work. In 1982 he entered corporate practice as Vice President to B.T. Jones at MINACT that managed several Jobs Corps sites stretched across the country for 19 years; he also served as Corporate Counsel. His advice and contributions were instrumental to the success and growth of the company.

In 2002 he began an association with Walker & Walker which would become Walker Group, PC, an association that lasted through his retirement in 2014.

Among his notable legal case work are three cases won at the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: McGowan v. King, Inc., 661 F.2d 48 (5th Cir. 1981), Neely v. City of Grenada, 624 F.2d 547 (5th Cir. 1980), and Nilsen v. City of Moss Point, 674 F.2d 379, (5th Cir. 1982). His victories in these cases established procedures for just compensation for legal work and a female's right to seek employment in an occupation (fireman) previously considered the exclusive preserve of white males in Mississippi.

Phillip wed in 1973 Geraldine Kearse (PhD) and to this union was born David, now of Minneapolis. She, David, and his wife, Shauna survive him as do his grandchildren Addie, Matthew, and Jason.

Phillip, born August 19, 1944 in Yazoo City, Mississippi, was the last and seventh child of the late Oscar DePriest and Addie Travis Brookins of Midway, Mississippi; he was pre-deceased by siblings Georgia Mason, Berthene Dockins, and Hugh B. Brookins. He has three surviving siblings Mary Alice Brookins of Jackson, Jackson Andrew (Verna) of Peabody, MA, and Oscar Travis (Kathryn) of Boston, and many nieces and nephews. All will miss him dearly.