Phillip A. Talbert
Associate Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills
B.A., magna cum laude, Economics, Harvard University, 1984
M.Ec., with honors, University of Sydney, 1987
J.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1989
Member, California State Bar
Phillip Allen Talbert joined the Southwestern faculty in 2026 after a career as a federal prosecutor, culminating in his service as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, appointed by President Biden. His teaching focuses on the written and oral advocacy skills he has developed over his many years of practice.
Professor Talbert first joined the U.S. Department of Justice in the Attorney General’s Honors Program as a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division, where he prosecuted public corruption, immigration fraud, and child exploitation cases and served a detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, prosecuting violent crime cases. He left the Department to join the Seattle office of Stoel Rives to practice white-collar criminal defense and commercial litigation. He later rejoined the Department in the Office of Professional Responsibility, where he investigated allegations of misconduct against Department attorneys.
“As a career federal prosecutor, my job was to find out the truth and do the right thing in the pursuit of justice. Here at Southwestern, my goal is to share with my students the skills I learned in my many years of practice while helping instill in them the ethics and sense of social responsibility that should guide all attorneys.”
In 2002, Professor Talbert joined the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of California, where he served as a line Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting drug trafficking organizations and violent criminals. He later oversaw the office’s appellate practice before the Ninth Circuit and trained new Assistant U.S. Attorneys as the Chief of Appeals and Training. Professor Talbert served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney to two different U.S. Attorneys appointed by Presidents of opposing political parties, and he took over as the Acting, Attorney General-appointed, and Court-appointed U.S. Attorney after each stepped down. Finally, in 2022, he was appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the U.S. Attorney.
Professor Talbert obtained his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where he served as Chief Articles Editor of the UCLA Law Review and graduated with Order of the Coif honors. The UCLA Law Review published his student comment, “The Relevance of Victim Impact Statements to the Criminal Sentencing Decision.” He externed at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted felony preliminary hearings as a practicing law student. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Honorable David R. Thompson (deceased) on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before joining the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2020, the Department recognized Professor Talbert with the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys Director’s Award for Executive Achievement for his leadership, and in 2025, the California Lawyers Association recognized him as the Ronald M. George Public Lawyer of the Year for his career in public service.
During his service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Professor Talbert taught Professional Responsibility for four years at the UC Davis School of Law. After his retirement from the U.S. Department of Justice, he joined the panels of private attorneys appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants appealing their cases before the Second and Fourth District Courts of Appeal, which he continues to do part-time while a member of Southwestern’s faculty.