Phillip Wheeler
Charles “Phillip” Wheeler, Jr. was born on April 13, 1978 and
grew up in Pikeville, KY. Following his graduation from Pikeville High
School in 1996, Phillip attended Transylvania University in Lexington,
KY, graduating magna cum laude in 2000 with a double-major in history
and German. Following college, Phillip was chosen as one of 50 Fulbright
Teaching Scholars to the Federal Republic of Germany and taught English
conversation at Werner-von-Siemens Gymnasium and Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium
in Regensburg, Germany.
Following the completion of the Fulbright Scholarship in 2001, Phillip
returned to Kentucky where he enrolled at the University of Kentucky College
of Law. While at the College of Law, Phillip served as a member of the
Journal of Mineral Law and Natural Resources and had the honor of having
two articles chosen for publication. Phillip also spent one summer as
a legal assistant to UK legal clinic director Allison Connelly. In his
third year of law school, Phillip spent two semesters at the legal clinic
assisting poor and indigent plaintiffs as a student-representative under
the third-year practice rule.
Following graduation in 2004, Phillip returned home to Eastern Kentucky
where he began practicing as an associate counsel at the Kirk Law Firm,
first in Paintsville, then at the Pikeville office opened in December 2004.
On April 4, 2007, Phillip was honored by Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher
with an appointment as the plaintiff’s representative to the Workers’
Compensation Nominating Commission. During his time on the commission,
Phillip has worked consistently for the appointment of pro-worker judges.
Phillip practices in the areas of: workers compensation, personal injury,
and social security.