His practice concentrates in the area of land use planning and zoning law. He graduated from the Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1979 and began practicing with Nashville's Metropolitan Government representing the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals, the Metro Planning Commission, the Metro Codes Administration, and the Metro Historical Zoning Commission. In private practice, Mr. Dean has been involved in a large number of land use planning cases, representing both governmental interests and private parties. Many of the cases in which he has been involved have been extremely significant in terms of the development of land use planning law in Tennessee.