Kayla Wheeler

Kayla Wheeler is an Associate Attorney at Phillips & Associates. She is a performance-oriented professional with commendable expertise in offering strategic legal guidance, negotiating employment disputes, drafting pleadings/motions, and ensuring legal compliance to drive positive outcomes.

Kayla graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland. During her time there, she interned for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia as part of the Criminal Law Internship Program. She gained valuable insight into all investigative aspects of the cases assigned to her by staff attorneys in the Trial and Civil Litigation Divisions.

Kayla later graduated from Syracuse University College of Law with a Juris Doctor degree. While in law school, Kayla interned with the Honorable Joanne D. Quiñones in the New York Supreme Court, Kings County, as part of the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program. During this time, she gained valuable insight into motion and trial practice. Kayla also served as a law clerk for the Syracuse City School District, representing the district in employment and labor law matters. In this role, she was involved in collective bargaining and conducted workplace harassment and discrimination investigations.

While in law school, Kayla also served as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Competition Director for the Advocacy Honor Society, a Senator for the Student Bar Association, and the Executive Assistant for the Black Law Students Association.

Prior to her start with the firm, Kayla worked as Assistant General Counsel for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). In this role, she served as the legal representative for DOHMH in employment and labor law issues. Her duties included providing guidance on employee relations and disciplinary matters, conducting thorough internal investigations, and handling employment discipline cases before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and the Civil Service Commission. Kayla was admitted to practice in New York in 2023.