Editor’s note: Answering The Purcell Register’s five questions this week is Purcell City Attorney Greg Dixon.
Q: Why did you choose the law as a career?
A: After obtaining a bachelor’s degree I was working in higher education. I really enjoyed working in higher education and desired to have more opportunities in this field, so it was necessary to obtain a post-graduate degree.
I enrolled in law school and one summer I interned for an attorney in the private sector that also spent two days a week as an assistant District Attorney. The exposure to the DA office and the role it plays in our communities appealed to me.
After graduation I was offered a position as an assistant district attorney in District 25, Okmulgee/McIntosh Counties and finished up an eight-year career with the District Attorney’s Office here in Purcell.
After leaving the DA office, I went into private practice in Purcell.
Q: Why did you choose to leave the bench and enter private practice?
A :Serving as a District Judge was a huge privilege. I enjoyed and felt honored to serve in this capacity each day I went to work.
I resigned the position due to an opportunity to join a former law partner in Colorado. When that opportunity fell on its face, Gina and I moved back to Oklahoma and restarted our careers, mine in law and hers in counseling.
Q: How does city attorney differ from other legal work you have done in your career?
A: I do a fair amount of non-litigated legal work, real transactions, estate planning, etc. However, a large portion of my private case load involves contested matters between two or more parties.
Those matters require meshing the law with a particular fact pattern to assist and advise clients in the matters/situations they find themselves in and/or wish to pursue.
My 27 years of practicing law, including my judicial position, provides me the opportunity to apply my experiences and things I have learned in both the civil and criminal arena to legally assist my clients.
Advising city officials as city attorney often involves a matter with differing opinions, but it does not allow for personal strategy or pursuit.
City officials must act within the authority they have been granted through city ordinances and state/federal law and therefore my advising role must follow a strict legal interpretation of such guidelines.
Q: What do you do in your spare time?
A: I usually have an outdoor handyman project unfinished around the house that I enjoy working on.
Q: What is something most people don’t know about you?
A: I have the three most precious grandchildren in the world.
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