I act for some of Australia’s leading media institutions, including The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Crikey, Capital Brief, plus international publishers including The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press and Bloomberg.

I also regularly advise prominent individuals, corporations and public-sector clients in complex and strategic litigation. I am often engaged by companies, government agencies, business-people and politicians to help navigate sensitive matters where there is importance placed both on legal and reputational issues.

Career highlights

• Leading the successful defence of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and its journalists in the Ben Roberts-Smith proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia.
• Representing Getax Australia in relation to Australia's largest ever foreign bribery prosecution and pecuniary-penalty order proceedings in the Queensland Supreme and District Courts.
• Acting for John Pesutto MP in defamation proceedings commenced by Moira Deeming MP.
• Advising state government departments and local councils in connection with inquiries and investigations. 
• Defending Al Jazeera Media Network in Federal Court of Australia defamation proceedings. 

Client testimonials

• "Dean is excellent. He's detail-focused, responsive, smart and a pleasure to deal with. He's someone whose advice I believe I could trust implicitly."
• "He’s incredibly talented and a producer of quality work, I'd have him on my team in a heartbeat."
• "An expert in his field and a safe pair of hands for any complex or sensitive litigation."
• "He is ferociously intelligent" and "has a rare ability to stay calm when things go wrong".
• For his work on the high-profile Defamation proceedings by Ben Roberts-Smith, Dean has been described by the client as "the most remarkable lawyer I’ve ever worked with.” 

MinterEllison’s TMT: Media practice is ranked Band 1 in Australia by Chambers & Partners in 2025, reflecting a leading practice for media, communications and online content matters. 

I am also a Board Member of the Melbourne Press Club.