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Mr. Ozier joined Bass, Berry & Sims PLC in June 1969, and was named a Member of the firm in 1974. He is the former chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Area and has been representing management in labor and employment matters exclusively since 1970.

Mr. Ozier is a Fellow in the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 1982 and in Who's Who in American Law®. Mr. Ozier has been named one of Tennessee's leading employment lawyers since 2003 by Chambers USA. He is listed on the Lawdragon 500 and Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America. Mr. Ozier is a Master in the Harry Phillips Chapter of the American Inns of Court and is a member of NACUA, the National Association of College and University Attorneys. He also served as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Civil Justice Reform Act for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and serves on the Federal Court Committee of the Nashville Bar Association. Mr. Ozier has served as chairman of the Labor Law Committee of the Tennessee Bar Association and has been a member of the Committees on the Development of the Law under the National Labor Relations Act and Equal Employment Opportunity Law of the American Bar Association. He is currently serving on the board of directors for the Tennessee Business Roundtable and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, the two leading business organizations in the state. He has served as their general counsel and has sat on the Executive Committee of the Tennessee Chamber since 2008. Mr. Ozier is a frequent lecturer to lawyers and human resource professionals on current labor and employment law topics.

Mr. Ozier graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1966 with a B.A. degree (cum laude) and received his J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1969, where he was Order of the Coif and a member of the editorial board of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee, the Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Ozier served as managing partner of the firm from 1987 through 1992 and as marketing partner from 1998-2001. He also chaired the firm's Long Range Planning Committee in 1998.

Representative matters handled by Mr. Ozier include:

Successful defense of private university in a federal court jury trial involving a claim of retaliatory discharge under Title IX of the Education Amendment Act.
Successful defense of private university in numerous age, gender and race discrimination claims.
Representation of employers in approximately one hundred union organizing campaigns.
Successful representation of a major private university in defense of a number of employment discrimination claims including several claims based on denial of tenure on the basis of gender, national origin, religion and retaliation.
Successful defense of numerous Fortune 500 companies in various types of employment discrimination claims including sexual harassment, age discrimination, race discrimination and disability discrimination.
Defense of various employers on state law employment claims including retaliatory discharge and the enforcement and defense of non-compete agreements.
Day-to-day representation of numerous employers of varying sizes in a variety of businesses regarding labor and employment matters, including union avoidance.
Representation of numerous companies in a variety of businesses in the arbitration of all types of issues under collective bargaining agreements including both disciplinary actions and contract interpretation.
Representation of employers on a wide variety of issues before the National Labor Relations Board.
Representation of numerous employers with a wide variety of labor unions in negotiating initial collective bargaining agreements and renegotiations of collective bargaining agreements.
Representation of employers in negotiating revisions to collective bargaining agreements in connection with the sale or acquisition of businesses.

Mr. Ozier has also represented numerous private educational institutions at the secondary and university levels in legal actions by students under Title IX of the Educational Amendment Act and various state law claims.