About C.
C. Phillip Buffington, Jr. advises financial institutions throughout the United States on federal and state banking laws and regulations. For more than 30 years, he has served as a trusted advisor to community, regional and national financial institutions, helping them to assess and analyze regulatory and litigation risks. Phil advises on a full range of issues, including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, expansion and divestitures, de novo formations and charter conversions, bank holding company formations and expansion, notices of change in control and change in director or senior officer, strategic planning, capital planning, securities offerings, responses to examinations and enforcement actions and commercial lending transactions, including syndicated lending, asset-based lending and SBA loans.Phil serves as Leader of the firm’s Financial Services Team.Phil conducts seminars for numerous organizations related to topics of interest in the financial institution industry, including the Independent Community Bankers of America, Mississippi Bankers Association, Florida Bankers Association, South Carolina Bankers Association, Texas Bankers Association, Mississippi Home Corporation, Mississippi Center for Nonprofit Corporation and several other associations.Phil is also an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law (Banking Law and Business Planning), and is a faculty member for the Mississippi Bankers Association School of Banking (Commercial Loan Documentation I and II).PublicationsStrategic Alternatives For and Against Distressed Businesses and Commercial Bankruptcy Litigation, Second Edition, 2015Strategic Alternatives for Distressed Businesses, 2012SeminarsLeveraged Finance 2018, Financial Poise/West LegalEdcenter Webinar, August 2018Post-Closing Merger Issues – Integration & Potential Buyer/Seller Disputes, Series: Private Company M&A Boot Camp, Financial PoiseIndependent Community Bankers of America, 2017 Capitol Summit – Mergers and AcquisitionsMergers and Acquisitions, 2016 Florida Bankers Association Bank Directors ForumBusiness Account Signature Cards and Resolutions: Entities, Authority and Documentation – 2016Legal Panel Discussion, MSCPA Banking and Finance Conference, 2016Regulatory Enforcement Action Overview, Hancock/Whitney Bank, 2015Record Retention, Mississippi Corporate Counsel, 2015Going Paperless, Columbia Bank Counsel, 2015Fundamentals of Commercial Loan Documentation I and II, 2012-2015Going Paperless, Texas Bankers Association, 2014Money Can't Buy Me Love, but it Helps: Dealing with Bank Regulators - Capital Planning, Basel III and Stress Testing - Will It Ever End?, SC Bankers Convention, 2014Understanding the Lasting Impact of Basel III on Community Banks Live Webcast, The Knowledge Group/The Knowledge Congress Live Webcast Series, 2014Advanced Business Contracts: Acquisition Agreements, 2014News Bankers Need to Know - Vendor Management, Tampa, Florida, 2013Record Retention, Mississippi Bankers Association, 2013Banks and Title Insurance, Stewart Title InsuranceBanks and Title Insurance, Mississippi Valley Title InsuranceNational Prosperity through Modern Rural Policy, White House Rural Council and the United States Department of Agriculture conference on Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Rural Development Policy ConferenceAffordable Housing and Non-Profit Issues, Mississippi Home Corp.National Center for Nonprofit Boards, Association Member, Speaker
C. Phillip Buffington, Jr. advises financial institutions throughout the United States on federal and state banking laws and regulations. For more than 30 years, he has served as a trusted advisor to community, regional and national financial institutions, helping them to assess and analyze regulatory and litigation risks. Phil advises on a full range of issues, including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, expansion and divestitures, de novo formations and charter conversions, bank holding company formations and expansion, notices of change in control and change in director or senior officer, strategic planning, capital planning, securities offerings, responses to examinations and enforcement actions and commercial lending transactions, including syndicated lending, asset-based lending and SBA loans.
Phil serves as Leader of the firm’s Financial Services Team.
Phil conducts seminars for numerous organizations related to topics of interest in the financial institution industry, including the Independent Community Bankers of America, Mississippi Bankers Association, Florida Bankers Association, South Carolina Bankers Association, Texas Bankers Association, Mississippi Home Corporation, Mississippi Center for Nonprofit Corporation and several other associations.
Phil is also an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law (Banking Law and Business Planning), and is a faculty member for the Mississippi Bankers Association School of Banking (Commercial Loan Documentation I and II).
Publications
Seminars
Practice Areas
Education
Professional Affiliations
Awards & Recognition
- Lawyer of the Year: Banking and Finance Law, Jackson, MS (2025)
- Lawyer of the Year: Commercial Finance Law, Jackson, MS (2018)
- Recognized: Banking and Finance Law
- Recognized: Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Recognized: Commercial Finance Law
- Recognized: Corporate Law
- Recognized: Financial Services Regulation Law
- Recognized: Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Practice Area: Commercial Litigation
- Practice Area: Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy)
- Practice Area: Securities Regulation
- Special Focus: COVID-19
- AV® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
- Mid-South Super Lawyers® - Banking
- Best Lawyers® - Mergers and Acquisitions Law