EVERETT – When you’re not satisfied with the challenges of your job and are looking for something new, maybe you could sell all your stuff, pack a bag and move to Thailand.
Sound out of the realm of possibility?
Michael V. Martina / The Herald
For most people it is. For Everett lawyer Brian Phillips, it’s not. And that’s exactly what the 53-year-old attorney will do after today.
Phillips leaves a lucrative civil and criminal law practice today to spend a year or more learning the Thai language in Bangkok. Then he will decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life.
“I want some new, different challenges,” he said.
Although coastal areas in Thailand were affected by the recent tsunamis, Bangkok was spared.
A well-known and established lawyer, Phillips is mostly turning in his law books for a more relaxed lifestyle. And this isn’t the first time he’s left the country looking for something a little different. Being single gives him the ability to pack up and move.
In 1997, Phillips packed a shortwave radio and boned up on how to detect land mines, then spent two months in Bosnia acting as a judge deciding voter eligibility as the country emerged from dictatorship to democracy.
A year later, Phillips’ old Peace Corps days caught up with him when the American Bar Association sent him to Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, to help create a more open and democratic legal structure.
Phillips has spent 25 years in the Everett legal profession, working at first as a public defender before striking out on his own. His Phillips and Mazzone Lawyers firm will retain his name, and Phillips may write some legal briefs from afar, sending information to Everett via the Internet.
In recent years, his focus has shifted mainly to civil litigation, mostly personal injury, although he teamed up with law partner Pete Mazzone in 2003 to defend Barbara Opel, accused of recruiting teenagers to kill an Everett man. It was a death penalty case, and though she was found guilty, the team saved her from execution.
He still enjoys practicing law, but “there’s just something about being in a different culture and being a part of a different culture. It’s rewarding,” he said.
Thailand became his country of choice after he visited an old law school buddy who moved there several years ago. In the last year or so, he’s made three trips to Thailand. On the last one in October, he rented an apartment.
“I always had an interest in Buddhism. There’s a gentleness in the people I find extraordinary, and it’s a beautiful country,” Philips said. “Besides, the food is really good.”
He said he can make due on as little as about $12,000 a year in Thailand. After he learns the language, he said he will look for work with a nonprofit group.
At the moment, Phillips has no idea how he will eventually be employed. First, he has to get used to the heat and humidity, which he said takes a while. He also has to stop talking loudly, something a lawyer has to practice.
“People don’t speak loudly in Thailand. It’s not beautiful to speak loudly,” he said.
He plans to visit monasteries, as he did on his last visit. He’s not going to become a monk, however.
He’s sold his condo in Edmonds and is selling his car. He’s giving away other items and will take only a few suitcases full of clothes
Phillips has already purchased a one-way ticket to Thailand.
“That’s an odd feeling,” he said.
But Phillips doesn’t have any second thoughts about leaving for a more peaceful life.
“In my experience, it takes about nine months before I feel like I’m part of the culture” in a foreign land, Phillips said. “That’s when I stop missing things American.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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