Dean is the founder of Pelletier Law, LLC, an intellectual property law firm in Chicago, IL. Prior to founding Pelletier Law, Dean was a managing director at an intellectual capital merchant bank and a board member/shareholder at another IP law firm in Chicago. He has been working with IP for more than 25 years.  He is a member of the Illinois Bar and the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar, a registered US patent attorney and a Certified Information Privacy Professional - United States (CIPP/US). His practice focuses on leveraging patents and trade secrets. Dean has litigated and tried cases in U.S district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and state courts and has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Dean litigated one of the first Defend Trade Secrets Act cases.Dean received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law (St. Louis, MO) and his B.S. in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL).