I represent some of Australia’s leading media companies, including Nine Entertainment Co., Private Media and Capital Brief, plus major international publishers including The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press and Bloomberg. 

In addition, I advise a range of corporate clients - including Qantas, Bupa and Optus – in navigating sensitive and complex matters where there is importance placed on both legal and reputational issues. 

Career highlights

• Ben Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media: Leading the successful defence on behalf of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and its journalists in defamation proceedings brought by Ben Roberts-Smith in the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia.
• AI: Advising Anthropic in relation to risks and disputes arising from AI and large language model (LLM) generated publications.
• Foreign bribery prosecution: Successfully obtained a permanent stay on behalf of an accused in the country's largest foreign bribery prosecution.
• Deeming v Pesutto: Acting for the then-Opposition Leader in defamation proceedings commenced by Moira Deeming MP.
• Pecuniary penalty order proceedings: Representing the co-defendants in pecuniary penalty order proceedings in the Queensland Supreme Court.
• Inquiries and investigations: Advising state government agencies and local councils in connection with various sensitive inquiries and investigations. 
• Contempt proceedings: Acting for the alleged contemnors in relation to contempt charges sought in the context of the Lattouf v ABC Federal Court of Australia proceedings.
• IBAC: Representing various individuals and organisations in relation to IBAC investigations.
• Privacy tort: Advising financial services and health organisations in relation to the Tort for Serious Invasions of Privacy.

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.” 

Awards and recognition

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