Toyota Motor North America chief legal officer and corporate secretary Sandra Phillips told The Texas Lawbook Tuesday that she is retiring from the company’s top legal post July 31 to spend more time with her parents, who are in their 80s, and to focus more on serving on corporate boards.
“I’ve been living the dream job for 15 years, working with a great team,” Phillips said. “I am proud that I was able to help Toyota navigate some of its most difficult issues and to help move this great company forward. This is a good time to transition to a team that is ready to take more responsibility and lead Toyota into the future.”
The DFW-based automaker said that Toyota enterprise and solutions senior vice president Chris Yang will add the duties of CLO to his expanded responsibilities and that its current general counsel, Liz Gibson, will assume the roles of corporate secretary, group vice president for regulatory affairs, environmental sustainability and chief sustainability officer. Gibson will report to Yang.
“Throughout her tenure, Phillips played a critical role in strengthening Toyota’s legal, regulatory, compliance and sustainability functions, helping guide the company through a dynamic policy and business environment,” Toyota North America President and CEO Ted Ogawa said in a statement.
Phillips co-chaired the record-setting Texas Access to Justice Commission Champions of Justice Gala this year with CenterPoint Energy General Counsel Monica Karuturi. More than $1 million was raised for legal aid.
Across the board, prominent members of the Texas legal community praised Phillips for her legal ethics and her commitment to professionalism, public service work and diversity.
“Sandra has been — and will continue to be — a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to all lawyers committed to the ideals of fairness, justice, and professionalism,” AT&T senior executive vice president and general counsel David McAtee said.
Olesja Cormney, who is the president of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and a former in-house lawyer at Toyota, said “working with Sandra was one of the most formative experiences of my career.”
“At Toyota, she led with a rare combination of sharp judgment, authenticity and genuine investment in her team. Sandra didn’t just expect excellence — she modeled it, and in doing so made you want to rise to meet that standard,” said Cormney, who spent nine years as managing counsel at Toyota and is now the general counsel of Canadian Solar Inc. “What stayed with me most was how intentionally she connected our work to something larger, encouraging her team to engage with and contribute to the community. Because of Sandra, I began to see professional success not just as individual achievement, but as an opportunity — and a responsibility — to show up, participate and give back.”
In 2025, ACC-DFW and The Lawbook honored Phillips with the 2024 DFW General Counsel of the Year Award.
“Sandra Phillips led with intention and purpose — building strong teams and collaborating with integrity,” said Shonn Brown, general counsel at Heidelberg Materials North America. “Toyota’s impact on the North Texas legal community reflects Sandra’s passion for service. Her leadership is a master class in service — elevating the profession, the business and greater community, and reflective of the oath we take as lawyers. To me personally, she is a mentor and a trusted friend. As she enters her next chapter, her impact on our profession will endure.”
Lawyers who worked with Phillips say she is a true leader of the legal profession.
“Sandra has been a true pioneer and a visionary leader at Toyota,” said Anne Johnson, an appellate partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. “She was a leader who didn’t just talk about the importance of diversity and inclusion, she made it happen. She insisted on it in her legal teams at all levels, and the results were pretty incredible. I saw it. She is the real deal. She embodies the phrase ‘be the change you want to see.’ I am just one of many, many lawyers who will be forever grateful for the opportunities she gave me and others.”
Veronica Moyé, a partner at King & Spalding, said Phillips “has been a transformational leader, both at Toyota and throughout the profession.”
“She not only made visionary contributions at Toyota, including building one of the most diverse and talented legal teams in the country, she has also been an inspirational leader in the profession, by acting as a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion,” Moyé said. “She has demonstrated a strong commitment to pro bono legal services and serving on multiple non-profit boards.”
“The legal profession owes her a deep depth of gratitude,” she said.
Christa Sanford, a partner at Baker Botts, said she first met Phillips when she was a young partner at a meeting at the firm’s offices.
“She asked me to stay at the end of the meeting and she told me to keep her number and to call her,” Sanford said. “She had a lasting impact on me and my career. It is really important that we take a moment to recognize the impact Sandra has had on the legal community.”
Phillips told The Lawbook that the role of the general counsel today is more than just “sitting in an office waiting to manage risks.”
“General counsel today are much more strategic partners with fellow executives than they were 15 or so years ago,” she said. “The role of the GC today is to help the business move forward.”
Lynn Pinker partner Michael Hurst said Phillips developed unique partnerships between her legal department and outside firms that have been highly successful.
“Her vision, ingenuity, and inclusiveness in creating this overarching collaboration between Toyota and outside counsel is emblematic of who I have seen Sandra to be as a leader – not only of Toyota and its outside counsel, but throughout the bar and community,” Hurst said. “Sandra is not just a leader of a large legal department for a large and venerable company, she is a leader for humanity. Our profession and our community are a million times better for what Sandra has unselfishly accomplished during her tenure at Toyota.”