A manager before law school, Mr. Dixon’s law practice has always focused on management defense in labor and employment matters. He helps employers solve problems in all settings, whether in court, arbitration, mediation, or in various administrative settings, and he helps employers take appropriate proactive steps to prevent claims and reduce risk.

Mr. Dixon’s practice includes defense of wage and hour class actions. He also defends individual cases, and has successfully resolved numerous cases alleging retaliation, harassment, discrimination, failure to reasonably accommodate disability and related contract and tort claims. He drafts and enforces agreements requiring arbitration. He also successfully represents clients in grievance arbitrations and unfair labor practice proceedings, including persuading the National Labor Relations Board to dismiss unfair labor practice charges and to defer to arbitration.

Mr. Dixon has extensive experience helping employers navigate business transitions and workforce reductions. He determines the applicability of and compliance with advance notification requirements. He frequently handles workplace violence matters and is involved in related public policy efforts on that issue. He helps clients handle the numerous new legal issues created by expansion of the information economy. He helps employers legally balance employee privacy interests with other legitimate interests, such as protecting company property and preventing abuse of company computers.

Mr. Dixon counsels employers on day-to-day compliance issues. He believes in reducing risk through management education. From 2003 to 2005, he developed a California-specific curriculum on employment law and co-authored a corresponding treatise for human resources certification students at California State University – Sacramento. He was selected in 2006 by the California State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (Cal-SHRM) to serve as the Legal Expert on Employee and Labor Relations. In that role, he helped develop and co-author the first edition of the SHRM California Learning System™. Mr. Dixon enjoys teaching and has helped teach HR certification courses at CSU – Sacramento and CSU – Bakersfield, as well as for the California Accredited Counselor (CAC) program of California Staffing Professionals (CSP). He frequently speaks on labor & employment law for professional, trade group and academic audiences and has published numerous employment-related articles. Mr. Dixon serves as the editor for California legal content in Preventing Sexual Harassment – California Edition, published nationally by the Alexander Hamilton Institute. He also frequently provides training for managers, supervisors and employees regarding topics such as sexual and other workplace harassment (including AB1825 training), discipline and discharge, electronic workplace and other issues.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Mr. Dixon is a member of the Kern County Society for Human Resource Management (KCSHRM) and currently serves in his third term as its Legal & Legislative Director. He is a member of the Kern County Bar Association (KCBA), a member of its Board of Directors and Chair of the KCBA Employment Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the San Joaquin Valley Chapter Federal Bar Association (SJVCFBA). Mr. Dixon is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Committee of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce (GBCC), the national Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and a former member of the Industrial Relations Research Association (IRRA). He served as the Inaugural Chair of the KCBA’s Young Lawyers Section (YLS). Mr. Dixon is a member of the State Bar of California and its Labor and Employment and Litigation Sections. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, its Labor and Employment Law Section and its Young Lawyer Division, for which he served as the Liaison on behalf of the KCBA-YLS. He is admitted to practice before all trial and appellate courts of the States of California, Nevada and Wisconsin. He is also admitted in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Central Districts of California, the District of Nevada, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin, as well as the United States Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Mr. Dixon serves on the Board of Directors for Teen Court of Kern County and serves as a judge in the annual We the People and Mock Trial competitions conducted by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. He formerly served as Secretary for the California Central Valley Chapter of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA) and as Advocacy Coordinator and Secretary for RESOLVE of Wisconsin.

EDUCATION

Mr. Dixon received his law degree cum laude from Duke University School of Law. He was a member of the Vespers Chamber Choir at Duke Chapel, co-directed the law school a capella group, and served as Class Representative and then Vice-President of the Duke Bar Association. He appeared in Who’s Who: American Law Students in all three years. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of Washington at Seattle, where he was on the Dean’s List each semester and earned membership in the Omicron Delta Epsilon International Economics Honor Society. He also earned membership in the Golden Key International Honour Society, which selected Mr. Dixon as the University’s Outstanding Junior.