In the legal industry, attorneys with technical backgrounds are in short supply and are incredibly valuable, particularly at firms like Ellis & Winters, where understanding the client’s business is foundational to the litigation process. Dixie Wells’s training, education and experience as an engineer have given her unique insights that she routinely applies to the cases she handles.
Dixie represents clients in lawsuits that involve engineering issues, including complex commercial transactions, cases arising out of engineering disasters, and product liability matters. She also represents clients in higher education law. Regardless of the substantive law at issue, she regularly handles both mass litigation and cases arising from single events that generate suits in multiple courts. Over the years, she has represented a range of clients, including Fortune 100 companies and internationally-renowned universities.
Though it may seem unconventional for an attorney to enter the practice of law from engineering outside of the patent law context, Dixie’s journey from engineering to nationally-recognized litigator makes sense when considering her unique path along the way.
Before attending law school at Wake Forest, Dixie obtained her undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Duke University (B.S.E., magna cum laude), where she was a Benjamin N. Duke Scholar. She then earned her master’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia (M.S.).
Following graduation, Dixie worked for three years as a research scientist for the Virginia Transportation Research Council and obtained her Professional Engineer license in North Carolina. Realizing that she would need a Ph.D. to advance and given her passion for the policy side of her work, she decided to pursue a law degree instead, graduating with honors from Wake Forest School of Law. After a federal clerkship, Dixie so thoroughly enjoyed the practice of law that she decided to shift gears and pursue a litigation career instead of policy work.
Dixie’s training as an engineer impacts her legal representation in many ways. She applies the same attention to detail as a lawyer that she did as a structural engineer, and often relies on her engineering background when participating in root cause investigations, interviewing or deposing witnesses, and coordinating with experts. Her broad and substantive knowledge in the civil, structural, and systems engineering fields enables her to advise clients and work with experts in cases that center around complex, technical issues.
Dixie’s engineering background also enables her to avoid inefficiencies and muddled communication; in the engineering field, engineers generally do not tiptoe around the issues and Dixie applies that philosophy to law practice. She is responsive and highly communicative with clients. Clients often describe her as a “straight shooter” who is willing to discuss the reality of their case, even when the situation is dire. That reality is something that the clients may not want to hear. If a client’s primary witness is going to be poorly received, for example, Dixie has no problem having a difficult conversation to avoid a surprise for the client at trial.
Dixie is a member of the firm’s management committee and serves the legal community in a number of ways. She is a former President of the Chief Justice Joseph Branch Inn of Court, an organization that promotes professionalism among attorneys, and she regularly speaks at conferences and webinars. She also enjoys reading or attending her two book clubs and spending time with her family.
