Class of 1978
Phil Cline has dedicated his legal career to public service. His career has been spent as a prosecutor in the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. He started there as a student law clerk, working his way up the ranks from a line prosecutor doing misdemeanor and felony trials to supervisory positions, including specializing in homicide and death penalty prosecutions for seven years.
In 1992, he was elected District Attorney of Tulare County, a position to which he has been re-elected five times, serving a total of 18 years. Among his many noteworthy accomplishments, Mr. Cline created the State’s first rural Crime Program designed to protect the agriculture industry from crime and potential threats to the food supply. The Program consists of County task forces of detectives and prosecutors, coordinated through D.A. Cline’s office and covering the entire Central Valley.
Mr. Cline served two terms as President of the Tulare County Bar Association and three terms as President of the Tulare County Police Chiefs Association, the only District Attorney ever elected to that position. He has served multiple terms on the Board of Directors of the California District Attorneys’ Association and is co-chairman of the Legislative, Legal Issues, and Public Assistance Fraud Committee.
Mr. Cline served four years in the United States Air Force before attending California State University Fresno. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from CSUF with a major in English Literature. He has been married to Marcia for 39 years. They have two children: Jarrett (SJCL graduate 2002 and Deputy District Attorney for Fresno County) and Amanda (teacher in Visalia).