As Phillips Murrah celebrates 40 years of service, we’re highlighting the people whose work has helped shape the firm along the way. In this 40 for 40 profile, we spotlight Nikki Edwards and the perspective she brings to her role and to the firm’s culture.
Nikki has known since the third grade that she wanted to be an attorney. As a kid she didn’t have the words for it, but she was clearly drawn to the analytical thinking, debate, and art of persuasion. She chose Phillips Murrah for its culture, reputation, and ability to serve clients more broadly – a welcome shift after working at very small firms with a single practice group.
Mentoring young lawyers and teaching are genuine passions for Nikki, and these are roles she has embraced as a community leader, an adjunct professor, and a partner at the firm. Within her specialty of family law litigation, the most rewarding part is shepherding people through their darkest, most difficult days, when personal trauma and complex legal issues collide.
Looking back, Nikki credits the mentors and bosses she had early in her career with instilling a sense of credibility she never lost, fueling her drive to achieve great things, and to grow from every opportunity she was given as a young lawyer. By the time she became a mom in her late thirties, she was already a well-established lawyer, an experience that reshaped her perspective and deepened her compassion for the clients she guides through divorce litigation.
Ask Nikki what matters most about Phillips Murrah, and the answer comes easily: culture. It’s easy to say the firm is inclusive, family-friendly, and community-minded, but that positive culture is precisely why she looks forward to coming to work each day. Even as the firm has grown and expanded geographically, that culture has held steady with the common purpose among employees to deliver the highest level of legal service to clients.
Outside of work, Nikki is grounded by her son, her husband, travel, and Thunder basketball. She’s quick to push back on the idea that lawyers, especially female lawyers, can be either a good mom or a good lawyer, but not both. Many of her days are spent on the basketball court and the soccer pitch cheering on her son, where the stress and drama of her law practice fade into the background.
Growth, Nikki notes, doesn’t follow a linear or chronological pattern. She counts herself lucky to be part of a shareholder group that is open-minded, fair-minded, community-minded, and client-focused, the very qualities that have sustained the firm. These qualities are also why the small group of lawyers who started Phillips Murrah 40 years ago grew it into a regionally respected firm that attracts top talent and cultivates one of the best workplace cultures.
Follow our year-long anniversary celebration by visiting our 40th Anniversary page and connecting with us on social media using the links below. We look forward to sharing what’s next.
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