Philip M. Kovnat | Of Counsel

Phil joined DP&S in September 2022. Prior to joining the firm, Phil was an appellate and trial attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. As an EEOC attorney, Phil handled all phases of litigation on behalf of the U.S. Government: pre-suit investigations, filing complaints in federal district courts, conducting extensive discovery, taking cases to trial, and handling appeals before the federal courts of appeals. Phil served as a first-chair trial attorney, as well as briefed and argued cases in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits. Phil also worked with the Office of the Solicitor General and other offices within the Department of Justice on certiorari-level and merits-stage proceedings in the U.S. Supreme Court. Before joining the EEOC, Phil served as a law clerk to the Honorable Bruce D. Black in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, and then went on to clerk for the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Phil did his undergraduate work at New York University and he earned his Juris Doctor from American University-Washington College of Law, where he served on the American University Law Review and the Washington College of Law Moot Court Honor Society.

Phil is licensed to practice in New York and New Mexico, as well as the United States Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits.

  • Caren Friedman and Philip Kovnat win in the New Mexico Court of Appeals!
    Congratulations to Santa Fe attorneys Caren Friedman and Philip Kovnat who successfully convinced the New Mexico Court of Appeals to affirm the judgment in its entirety in this consolidation of two domestic relations appeals in which DP&S represented the Father as Appellee. The Appellant had argued that the district court abused its discretion in refusing to modify child support and concluding that Father could claim Child on his tax returns. DP&S argued that the appeals were untimely, depriving the Court of Appeals of jurisdiction. In the alternative, DP&S argued that the district court did not err. The Court of Appeals agreed with DP&S that one of the appeals was untimely. The Court also agreed that the district court correctly decided the issues in the remaining appeal.

    Caren Friedman and Phil Kovnat win big in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas!
    Congratulations to Santa Fe attorneys, Caren Friedman and Phil Kovnat, who, along with Dallas trial counsel C. Kyle Pugh and appellate counsel Jeffrey Levinger, successfully convinced U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas to deny a Motion for New Trial, for Remittitur, or to Alter or Amend the Judgment filed by the United States of America in a Federal Tort Claims Act case. Following a bench trial involving a collision between a United States Postal Service truck and a motor vehicle operated by Michael Le, which rendered Mr. Le a quadriplegic, Judge O’Connor awarded Plaintiffs over $26 million in damages, including damages for past and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium.

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Phone: (505) 986-0600 ext. 124
Fax: (505) 986-0632
✉ Email Philip

Address:
505 Cerrillos Rd Suite A209
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501