'It'll be tough,' longtime lawyer says

Phillips was at dentist when tragedy unfolded

During 55 years at Wood Phillips, he has become its gray eminence, a walking library of institutional memory and patent law knowledge.

His courtly manners predate the I-need-it-now era of e-mail and cell phones.

Phillips has never dealt with the kind of tragedy that unfolded Friday, when a gunman killed a Wood Phillips attorney, an office aide and another lawyer.

At 80 years old -- and a year after he had both knees replaced -- Phillips still works five shortened days a week. And today, the first workday since an enraged Joe Jackson blasted his firm apart, he is going to the office.

"Emotionally, it'll be tough,'' he said Sunday.

The firm will officially be closed today, and grief counseling has been arranged off-site, he said. But he plans on returning to the office to bolster any co-workers there.

"I just want to show that I'm there, if any of them want to talk to me.''

Phillips was at the dentist when Joe Jackson opened fire at his firm. Jackson apparently believed he had been cheated on a patent for an invention.

Jackson shot three people to death before police killed him. One, lawyer Michael R. McKenna, had rented space from the firm, at 500 W. Madison. "He was a good friend,'' Phillips said.

Another victim, Allen J. Hoover, had been with the firm four years.

"We'll just miss him terribly,'' said Phillips. "Mr. Hoover was a partner, and many, many people in the firm work on his clients.''

Visitation for Hoover is from 9 a.m. Tuesday until a noon service at Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 6150 N. Cicero.

Also killed was Paul Goodson, a retired teacher who distributed mail at Wood Phillips. "He was always cheerful. I never saw him get angry,'' Phillips said.

modonnell@suntimes.com