History of Bailey & Dixon, L.L.P.
The attorneys who established Bailey & Dixon had the vision, ability and determination to
build a first-rate law firm. Our size is and has been a deliberate, thoughtful process -
we reject the notion that bigger is better. Practically all of our partners were originally
associates. We are proud of our collegial environment, based upon mutual professional
respect and personal friendships.
Thanks for allowing us to share some of our history with you.
I. M. Bailey began practicing law in North Carolina at the height of World War I - 1916.
From his first client onward, Mr. Bailey insisted on providing the highest quality legal
service with utmost commitment to integrity. For over 90 years, lawyers at Bailey & Dixon
have continuously strived to meet these high standards.
Mr. Bailey's commitment to law as a profession began early in his career, evidenced by
his speech, "The Bar Association's Influence on Young Lawyers" to the North Carolina Bar
Association's annual meeting in 1921.
1
During the 1925 legislative session, I. M. Bailey served as a member of the North Carolina
House of Representatives representing Onslow County. The first bill the new representative
introduced was an act amending the licensing of attorneys at law, requiring at least a high
school education. Mr. Bailey's abilities were reflected in his legislative committee
assignments to Judiciary, Finance, and Trustees of the University of North Carolina.
2
Representative Bailey's 1925 General Assembly created the Advisory Budget Commission, making
the Governor responsible for preparing the state's budget with the General Assembly approving
it. Ever since this act, North Carolina has enjoyed a balanced budget.
This legislative session also empowered the Corporation Commission to supervise and regulate
North Carolina's business, financial and industrial organizations. The Commission would later
become the North Carolina Utilities Commission and State Banking Commission.
3
Following the 1925 legislative term, Governor Angus McLean appointed I. M. Bailey General
Counsel to the Corporation Commission and Assistant Securities Commissioner. In March 1929,
Governor O. Max Gardner elevated Mr. Bailey to Corporation Commissioner and Securities
Commissioner until February 1930, when he again served as General Counsel.
4
The 1920s were a time of unparalleled prosperity for the nation, fueled in large part by
leveraged stock market speculation, ending abruptly with "Black Tuesday" on October 29, 1929.
Against an ever-increasingly dire economic situation, Bailey successfully defended the North
Carolina Corporation Commission before the North Carolina Supreme Court in the appeal of D. S.
Murphey in a stockbroker liability matter.
5
North Carolina banks had made loans to individuals based upon the value of stock as collateral.
As stock values plummeted, banks scrambled to cover the difference between outstanding speculative
loans and worthless stock collateral. Unable to do so, they failed - collapsing the nation's
financial system. The chain reaction continued down the business line, with many small businesses
going bankrupt. In 1930 alone, 88 North Carolina banks and 233 savings and loans failed,
impoverishing businesses and individuals, with many families losing their homes.
6
Elected President of the National Association of Securities Commissioners in 1930, I. M.
Bailey directed national efforts to enact standard methods of valuing preferred and common
stocks, prevent stock pool manipulation and set maximum selling commissions.
7
In July 1931, Bailey resigned as Corporation General Counsel to open law offices for general
practice in the Raleigh Banking and Trust Company Building. He joined Wake County's ranks of
152 lawyers, most practicing near the courthouse on Fayetteville, Salisbury, Martin or Hargett
streets. Only 18 Raleigh law firms had two or more attorneys in 1930. Further, timing to start
a private law practice seemed inauspicious. In 1932, there were 1,862 licensed attorneys in
North Carolina, 562 of whom earned less than $1,000 annually.
8
Nevertheless, by concentrating his practice in corporate and business law with some lobbying
before the General Assembly, I. M. Bailey was doing well enough in practice by 1933 to add a
young associate, William Carroll Lassiter, recent Duke Law graduate and son of the owner of
the Smithfield Herald newspaper. Lassiter left the firm in 1948 to become general counsel and
chief lobbyist for the North Carolina Press Association.
9
I. M. Bailey demonstrated why clients valued his advice and counsel by successfully representing
the Commissioner of Banks Gurney P. Hood before the North Carolina Supreme Court in the appeal of
an important banking matter. Throughout his legal career, Bailey served as North Carolina Counsel
to the Greyhound Corporation, general counsel to the State Bankers Association and North Carolina
Merchants Association for legal and legislative matters.
10
He was a leader in the profession, elevating the standards of legal practice by helping to found
the North Carolina State Bar, then serving as its first elected President for two terms from 1933
to 1935.
11
World War II saw the next generation of North Carolina attorneys fighting for their country, with
future founding law partner Wright T. Dixon, Jr., serving as an officer with the Marine Corps in
Guam and China.
I. M. Bailey's son, J. Ruffin Bailey, served in the Army Air Corps flying more than 2000 hours "over
the hump" in the China-Burma-India theater from 1941 to 1945, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross. Meanwhile, I. M. Bailey served as North Carolina chairman for the U. S. Government's war bond
sales campaign.
12
Ruffin Bailey returned from the war to enter the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law
school, graduating in the famous post-war 1948 law school class. As Raleigh's Cameron Village Shopping
Center began construction, Bailey joined Bailey, Holding & Lassiter, as a law clerk at the munificent
sum of $225 per month.
Graduating in the 1948 UNC Law class enabled Ruffin Bailey to call upon a classmate in almost every
North Carolina county, for any matter he needed help with in a particular county, and his classmates
had a reliable colleague in Raleigh.
13
The senior Mr. Bailey mentored Ruffin Bailey, showing him around the General Assembly, tutoring him in
business law, while successfully litigating for transportation companies and railroads before the North
Carolina and United States Supreme Courts. I. M. Bailey enjoyed challenging his son with his high legal
work standards for three years, before dying unexpectedly of a stroke in 1951 at age 59.
14
His father's sudden death made Ruffin Bailey "a very new lawyer in a solo practice." Although many of
his father's clients moved to other lawyers, most of the trucking and transportation industry stayed
with Ruffin. He successfully represented a trucking company in keeping its special use certificate
against challenge by competitors before the North Carolina Supreme Court, while handling other regulatory
and rate cases before the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
15
Ruffin Bailey continued to do extensive work before the Utilities Commission in addition to juggling
legislative and corporate practices. Increasingly the workload became overwhelming and he needed good
help. Ruffin approached his childhood friend, Wright T. Dixon, Jr., who received his UNC law degree in
1951. Dixon joined the practice in 1956, establishing the name of our present firm.
16
Dixon concentrated on building and running the firm's litigation practice, while Bailey continued to
work with regulatory, insurance and banking clients. As their success grew, the 7th floor of the Raleigh
Banking and Trust Company Building became cramped, so the firm moved to more spacious quarters at the
First Federal Building in 1961.
17
An experienced litigator, Wright Dixon demonstrated his litigation prowess in a key case establishing
that a baseball league has a duty to use due care in protecting baseball umpires against attacks by
frenzied fans. In another display of courtroom skills, Dixon observed the jury refusing to look at
his client after returning from deliberations. Before the judge could question the jury about their
unfavorable verdict against his client, Wright jumped to his feet and moved for a voluntary dismissal.
The General Assembly stopped any other lawyer from using Wright's quick thinking by outlawing the
practice.
18
Wright Dixon's career highlights a further commitment to professional service as President of both
the Wake County Bar and North Carolina State Bar. Upon becoming State Bar President, he faced a
particularly challenging task. Previously in the year, several North Carolina attorneys confessed
to embezzling or mishandling more than $1 million of clients' funds, potentially tarnishing all
lawyers' reputations.
Through newspapers, radio and television, Dixon informed the public about the State Bar's client
security fund, established by an annual fifty-dollar attorney fee, to reimburse the victims of
embezzlement by lawyers. By publicizing State Bar disciplinary actions taken against lawyers who
violated the public's trust and state laws, Dixon demonstrated to both lawyers and clients that
complaints were taken seriously.
One of Raleigh's trial lawyers, Roger W. Smith, summarized fellow litigator Wright Dixon as, "...a man
of great moral courage. I've never seen him intimidated by anyone or any task." The profession honored
him with the Wake County Bar's Joseph Branch Professionalism Award. Dixon's style and skills continue
to be reflected in the trial lawyers he mentored, practicing in Bailey & Dixon's litigation section.
19
Restless with law practice, bitten by the political bug, Ruffin Bailey filed for a State Senate seat in
January 1964. Running against a House representative and a former Raleigh mayor, Bailey stated "I can't
promise anything to anyone except to devote my full time and to give full, fair, and honest consideration
in all phases of the people's business with which I come in contact."
20
Elected in November 1964 over his opponents, Senator Bailey served four terms in the North Carolina
General Assembly from 1965 to 1973. He was Chairman of the Courts and Judicial Districts Committee,
Legislative Study Commission on Compulsory Insurance and Vice Chair of both the Public Utilities
Commission and the Judiciary Commission. His work as Chairman of the Courts Commission created landmark
reform judicial legislation establishing statewide uniform district courts.
After his legislative service, Bailey returned to lobbying, perennially ranking among the most effective
and influential legislative representatives in North Carolina history. He had impeccable "integrity and
credibility," lobbying 25 years for clients such as the Property and Casualty Insurance industry, the
North Carolina Beer Wholesalers Association and the North Carolina Credit Union League.
21
Part of Bailey's success as a lobbyist was due to his humor and unwavering honesty. North Carolina
Representative Sam Johnson said, "If Ruffin told you something, it was correct. You could take it to
the bank."
22 Gleefully, Bailey freely distributed printed cards with his favorite quotation, "No man's
life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session."
23
Both Ruffin Bailey and Wright Dixon oversaw their firm's final move to the Two Hannover Square building
in downtown Raleigh during October 1991, while continuing to maintain active practices and mentoring
young associates before their retirement.
From the firm's origins, Bailey & Dixon's commitment to public service and the practice of law has
affected North Carolina. Over the years, Bailey & Dixon attorneys served as counsel to boards and
commissions, legislators and state agencies. Our attorneys served as House and Senate members of
the North Carolina General Assembly, as Speaker of the North Carolina House, as Judge on the North
Carolina Court of Appeals, and as a North Carolina Supreme Court Justice.
Prior Bailey & Dixon attorneys served as Wake County and North Carolina State Bar Association Presidents,
and in enumerable professional and civic leadership positions. This service commitment lives on today
through our lawyers and staff, who provide civic leadership and pro bono legal representation to
individuals and institutions in our communities, continuing the tradition of service that distinguishes
us from other law firms.