Practice Areas

Banking & Finance
Business
Estate Planning & Administration
Real Estate

Practice Summary

Dean has such a broad practice he can provide a lifetime of services to his entrepreneur, business, and family clients. From entity formation to mergers and acquisitions, and estate planning to probate, he is a valued legal advisor and partner throughout the life cycle.
 
His clients rely on his trusted and strategic legal advice and guidance on a broad range of banking, business, intellectual property, and succession planning matters for financial institutions, businesses, and individuals. He delivers to his clients practical legal solutions while effectively protecting their interests and assets.
 
When advising businesses and nonprofits, Dean provides comprehensive advice on choice of entity, property acquisitions and sales, licensing, employment, intellectual property including registration and maintaining protection of trademarks, and guidance through effective retirement and succession planning for businesses. He especially enjoys working on family succession matters, helping real people with real concerns find real solutions.
 
He offers financial service providers a valued range of advice on complex loan documentation, regulatory compliance, and other lending and operational matters.
 
Estate planning for individuals focuses on wills and trusts, estate tax planning, and probate. Dean provides meaningful and efficient services to individuals and families to facilitate management of their assets during their lifetime, while incapacitated, and at the end of life.  

Representative Matters

Financial Services Represents multiple regional and community-based financial service providers in all facets of compliance operations, lending, and loan documentation.
 
Business and Corporate – Advises numerous entrepreneurs and businesses and assists them with their entity selection, corporate compliance, business maintenance, and operational matters.
 
Hotel and Hospitality – Advises purchasers, sellers, investors, lenders, and operators in a wide array of transactions involving hotel facilities. This gives Dean a unique perspective into all aspects of operations and transactions. His substantial experience representing hospitality clients includes entity formation, financing transactions, real estate lending, intellectual property, employment, construction and development, 1031 exchanges, hotel management issues, and succession planning.

Succession Planning – Counsels business owners on successful succession planning and represents high net-worth families and closely-held entities with effective management in their multi-generational succession planning.
 
Intellectual Property – Represents financial institutions and businesses in protecting, registering, and licensing intellectual property assets, including trademark, service mark, and licensing.
 
Nonprofits and Religious Institutions – Works with a broad variety of nonprofit and religious organizations including churches, schools, foundations, and trusts. He understands these clients have unique legal issues and governance challenges related to their missions and guides them as they achieve their objectives and reduce their risks and liabilities.

Education

Willamette University College of Law (J.D. cum laude, 1984)
Pacific Union College (B.S. 1981)

Admissions

Oregon State Bar
Washington State Bar
Idaho State Bar

Associations

Oregon Bankers Association
Multnomah Bar Association

Awards

Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5 Peer Review Rated

Selected by his peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America® 2018-2024 for Trusts and Estates and 2019-2024 for Corporate Law

Speaking Engagements

Dean regularly presents training to financial service providers and their management teams on all aspects of operations, lending and loan documentation, and regulatory compliance.  He also often speaks to groups on the effectiveness of estate planning and administration issues to be considered for individuals, families, and family-held businesses, and has given several presentations recently on effective business succession planning.