Mackenzie oversees Townsend Lockett’s securities law compliance and corporate governance practice and is Managing Partner of the Townsend & Lockett Chicago office. Mackenzie’s practice focuses on securities law compliance, corporate finance, corporate governance and disclosure, mergers and acquisitions and contracts.
Prior to joining Townsend Lockett, Mackenzie served as Chief Corporate Counsel for Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated focused primarily on securities law compliance, subsidiary management, corporate finance, disclosures and corporate governance issues. Before her work as Chief Corporate Counsel at JLL, Ms. Phillips served as Interim Securities and Corporate Governance Counsel to a NYSE-listed online travel company through Axiom Law. Prior to Axiom, Ms. Phillips was an associate at each of Winston & Strawn LLP and Mayer Brown LLP. At both large law firms, her practice focused on M&A, securities, corporate finance, corporate governance and general corporate work.
In addition to her expert legal services, Mackenzie also supports Townsend Lockett’s efforts to maintain and enhance its inclusive culture and a diverse workforce, and works to develop and foster diversity in the legal industry by volunteering on local diversity initiatives concerning recruitment, retention, business and professional development in the legal profession.
Ms. Phillips is a speaker and writer on securities and corporate law topics, as well as diversity-related issues. She currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of the Business Law Enterprise Clinic at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. She is also a Co-Editor of The Board of Directors (Portfolio No. 63-2nd) (September 2009) published by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. Corporate Practice Series.
Mackenzie has been featured in the April/May/June 2017 issue of Modern Counsel in the article entitled, “So Much to Consider,” and JLL’s Guide for General Counsel on how to influence a board of directors to drive sustainability, written in partnership with the Canadian chapter of the United Nations Global Compact. She has also been featured on the LeftFoot Podcast under the podcast titled “Judgment is Critical.”
- U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Georgia
- Georgia Supreme Court
- Georgia
- 2004
- J.D., University of Michigan School of Law (Executive Editor of the Michigan Law Review)
- 1999
- A.B., French, Cornell University
- Representation of specialty finance company in its private placement of $12.5 million preferred units with warrants
- Representation of underwriter in connection with a bond purchase agreement with the Illinois Finance Authority pursuant to which the underwriter agreed to purchase $134 million in revenue bonds
- Representation of management consulting services company in connection with its $118 million sale of its preferred stock and redemption of its common stock
- Representation of start-up company in its $7.1 million acquisition of common stock of three companies in the business of post-production video editing
- Representation of NYSE-listed Fortune 200 industrial company in connection with its internal restructuring of global subsidiaries
- Representation of residential mortgage company in multiple public and 144A debt offerings of approximately $12 billion in fixed and floating rate notes
- Representation of NYSE-listed property and casualty insurance company in connection with its public equity and debt offerings totaling $2 billion
- Representation of underwriters in Rule 144A debt offering of $150 million of fixed rate notes
- Representation of various public companies in connection with public company reporting requirements, proxy season documentation, and preparation and filing of annual and periodic reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
- Reading Between the Lines, Member of Board of Directors
- UIC John Marshall Law School, Adjunct Professor
- Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Fellow Alumna
- Jones Lang LaSalle, 2012-2020
- Orbitz Worldwide, 2011-2012
- Winston & Strawn, 2007-2010
- Mayer Brown LLP 2004-2007
Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
James C. Collins