Advantages

We would summarize the advantages of working with us as:

• Big Firm Quality:  All of our partners had successful careers in large, elite law firms.
• Small Firm Affordability:  We aim to set our billing rates about 30% below those of California’s large, elite law firms.
• Small Firm Personal Service:  You see it in every industry:  small businesses just tend to provide better, more personal service than big businesses.  We’ve had clients tell us many times that they hired us because we’re so client-friendly.  You can call any of our partners on our direct lines, and we’ll personally answer our own phones.  We’ll give you our cell phone numbers.  You can usually reach us immediately on the phone, and get a very quick response to e-mails.  All three of our partners own a significant stake in our firm, and you’ll see that we act like entrepreneurial, small business owners in everything we do.
• Compliance Focus:  By far most employment lawyers spend the vast majority of their time on litigation.  Employment lawyers at California’s large, elite law firms tend to focus on very large class action cases.  By contrast, our bread and butter is providing compliance support to employers.
• Immense Resources:  Because all of our lawyers have focused for many years on compliance support, we have developed an immense array of resources to support our clients with respect to employment law compliance.  These resources include employee handbooks, personnel templates spanning the entire employment relationship, legal summaries, and compliance training.
• Litigation Experience:  While we focus much more on compliance support than your average employment lawyer, our lawyers have defended employers against employment lawsuits their entire careers and continue to do so.  We believe we provide more effective and efficient litigation services in our small firm platform.
• We’ve Worked Together A Long Time:  We’re a close-knit team that has worked together for a long time.  Ray Hixson and Brian Nagatani have worked together since Brian joined Ray at Fenwick & West in 2000.  Mary joined Ray and Brian at Fenwick & West in 2004, and then joined them at Hixson Nagatani LLP in 2009.  Our legal assistant has worked with one or more of our lawyers since 2002.  We believe that our clients benefit from a particularly strong level of teamwork and consistency of advice.
• Exclusive Employment Law Focus:  All of our lawyers have practiced employment law exclusively their entire careers:  Ray Hixson since 1994, Brian Nagatani since 2000, and Mary Wang since 2004.  California employment law is famously complex.  We believe that practicing employment law in California requires an exclusive employment law focus to deliver the high level of quality and efficiency that all clients deserve.