Defense

On March 13, roughly five years after being retained, Dickerson listened as the jury handed down a guilty verdict against his client, Donald Ayers of Fort Myers, and Ayers’ four co-defendants, on charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. "It definitely was a disappointing result, especially whenever you spend that much time fighting for something," says the 37-year-old lawyer.

"Believe me, I’ve watched that game tape over and over," he says, referring to court transcripts. "I wanted to figure out the different things we could have done. We lost that round; it’s not over yet."

That sense of determination wouldn’t surprise those who remember Dickerson from his days at Barron Collier High School, where he was a stand-out athlete, and his rise from assistant state attorney to "star," as one friend calls him, comes from the same qualities that made him excel in baseball and football.

"Being a good trial lawyer is similar to being an athlete in a game of competition," says prominent Naples defense attorney Jerry Berry, Dickerson’s long-time friend and mentor. "A trial lawyer wants to win. I could tell [early on] that he was competitive."

That quality, combined with Dicker-son’s knack for spotting opponents’ weaknesses and devising strategies, has served him well. In his 12-year law career, he has represented major corporations and doctors in civil cases, as well as defendants facing white-collar-crime charges.

Dickerson moved with his family in 1984 from Illinois to Naples. At Barron Collier, he played third base and outfield on the baseball team and receiver on the football squad; he caught passes from future Florida Gators quarterback Terry Dean. "Brian was a position receiver. If you threw him a pass, he would fight and fight and fight for the ball," says Dean, who is Dickerson’s best friend. "Besides me, he is the most competitive person I know."

With a dual scholarship for football and baseball, he enrolled at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and ultimately was voted All-American in both sports. He majored in criminal justice/political science, looking forward to landing a job with the FBI. But his path took a turn in his senior year when mentor Berry strongly advised him to go to law school.

Dickerson enrolled at Capital Uni-versity Law School in Ohio, where he coached the university’s football team, and attended graduate school at Ohio University. Three years later, he received his law degree and a master’s in sports administration, and returned to Southwest Florida to put his energy and determination to work in the legal profession.

In 1996, Dickerson started his first law-related job: assistant state attorney in the 20th Circuit, which includes Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties.

"When I finished law school, I wanted to do trials. Jerry told me, "Instead of going into private practice, go get trial experience [with the prosecutor’s office],’" Dickerson says. "On my third day, I was trying my first case. I probably tried more cases in those two years than a lot of lawyers try in their career."

In 1998, he moved to Ohio and landed an assignment helping with the merger of Columbus-based State Savings with Fifth Third Bank. He eventually joined Maguire & Schneider law firm, where he started out in criminal defense and civil litigation. Before long, he was handling big-name clients, successfully defending Heinz, Nestlé and Dole in product-liability suits.

"He has represented a number of our clients," says David Herman, senior counsel with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, whose services include helping members retain lawyers to defend them. "He is always prepared, he always does his research and he always takes a no-nonsense approach to gain the trust of opposing counsel."

In November of 2006, Dickerson opened his own firm, Dickerson Law Group, which currently has three attorneys, two paralegals and two law clerks at offices in Naples and Columbus. He brought with him a client he had represented in 2003 against civil, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and bankruptcy issues as well as possible criminal charges. That client, Donald Ayers, a former chief operating officer and vice chairman with National Century Financial Enterprises, was among several company executives indicted in May 2006 in a major corporate-fraud scheme. The Department of Justice accused the group of deceiving investors, lying to ratings companies and concealing shortfalls by floating money between accounts.

Leading up to the trial, Dickerson and his team reviewed some 10 million pages of documents. Ayers and four co-defendants were tried at once, making for a crowded courtroom that included eight defense attorneys. Dickerson was the youngest lead attorney on the case.

The guilty finding has Dickerson working on an appeal in addition to the firm’s several other cases. And soon he’ll decide whether to accept another major criminal-defense role, stemming from a case in New York.

"When it comes to the law, I put everything into football or baseball sorts of passion," he says. "I guess [sports were my] drug then and this is my drug now, in the metaphorical sense."