Phillips has also denounced a similar decline in values in the law profession.  At a seminar sponsored by the Gordon Cook Foundation in 2007, he recalled with dismay the removal of the 20-partner limit on law firms, the Law Society's abandonment of the no-advertising rule, the passing of the Limited Liability Partnership Act which allowed law firms to incorporate with limited liability, and the introduction of the Legal Services Bill which paved the way for firms to be owned and controlled by external shareholders. "In effect, we are de-professionalising ourselves, losing our autonomy and cohesion and further diluting our ethos," he said. And in an interview with The Times in 2012 about the opening up of law practices to private equity, he said the profession had sold its soul: “The law has become another tool for the rich and mighty that others can’t access."