Dean Mead

Significant Representations

• Successfully defended the majority shareholder of the Daytona Beach News-Journal for a finding of no liability to pay more than $1.7 million in damages that had been awarded to the minority shareholder during a four-year federal lawsuit reported in the Orlando Sentinel and the Daytona Beach News-Journal on April 30, 2009.  (U.S. District Court for Middle District of Florida).

• Obtained settlement worth more than $4.3 million for biomedical company in contract dispute with large non-profit corporation from out of state.  (U.S. District Court for Middle District of Florida).

• Represented lifetime trust beneficiary to secure judicial reformation of a trust that had been substantially modified to reduce her benefits by more than $1.8 million only weeks before the testator’s death. (Sumter County, FL)

• Successfully defended client from trade secret claims, as well as extensive e-discovery through independent computer examiner, in billion-dollar litigation against major defense contractor represented by multiple law firms.  (U.S. District Court for Middle District of Florida.)

• Drafted winning arguments for plaintiffs in trial court’s decision to strike down city ordinance regulating on-site retention of shopping carts as discussed in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, June 30, 2004. (Osceola County, Florida.)

• Won trial granting client the right to obtain an accounting from corporation and business associate who had challenged the nature of their legal relationship.  (Orange County Business Court, Florida.)

• Defended publicly-traded medical device manufacturer from invasive discovery tactics employed by parties to multiple lawsuits, as reported in Fortune Magazine and http://www.Money.CNN.com on February 6, 2008.  (Palm Beach County, Florida.)

• Obtained injunction against ex-employee from violating non-competition agreement with major Florida corporation and required restoration of all customer relationships with former employer.  (Orange County Business Court, Florida.)

• Defended constitutional rights of advertising business that uses new technology against alleged statutory violations, as discussed in the Orlando Sentinel from February 12-15, 2008.  (Orange County and Seminole County, Florida.)

• Achieved favorable disposition of claims against publicly-traded company for alleged violations of Fair Credit Reporting Act. (U.S. District Court for Middle District of Florida.)

• Obtained final judgment for plaintiffs against bonding agency and its president involving six-figure note, stock, bond premiums, collateral and remissions of forfeiture. (Orange County, Florida.)

• Won case for local physician against multi-billion dollar company that is one of the world’s largest clinical laboratories, publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. (Seminole County, Florida.)

• Recovered sizable settlement against contractors in arbitration involving collapse of a home during renovations in an exclusive residential area of Winter Park. (American Arbitration Association.)

• Obtained dismissal of action brought by former employer against executive for alleged breach of non-compete agreement. (Seminole County, Florida.)

• Successfully recovered expensive equipment for corporation that separated from other entity involved in asset purchase agreement. (Orange County, Florida.)

• Assisted local contractor with removing former customer’s disparaging Web site from Internet.

• Enforced trademarks and service marks for several high-profile local businesses, and defended clients from claims of trademark infringement asserted by major corporations.

• The Florida Bar
  • Business Law Section
• Orange County Bar Association
  • Intellectual Property Section
• Orlando Carolina Club
• Leadership Orlando, Class 70 - Graduate
• Central Florida Partnership
• Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce
• University Club of Orlando

• Juris Doctorate: University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with honors, 1999
  • North Carolina Law Review, 1997-1999
• Bachelor of Arts Degree: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with honors, 1995

• Florida
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida

• The Honorable Linda M. McGee, North Carolina Court of Appeals, Law Clerk, 1999-2000

• The Chapel Hill Herald, Journalist, 1996

• Recognized as a “Rising Star” by Florida Super Lawyers, 2011
• Martindale-Hubbell: AV Rating

• What Trustees Should Know about Florida’s New Attorneys’ Fee Statute, co-presented with David J. Akins, Dean Mead Trust & Estate Litigation Seminar, October 19, 2010
• Employee Privacy in the Workplace, presented to the Southwest Insulation Contractors Association (SWICA) on June 6, 2009 at Ginn Hammock Resort, Palm Coast, Florida
• Employee Privacy in the Workplace, presented to the Southeast group (SEICA) on June 22, 2009 at the Wild Dunes Resort in South Carolina.

• What Trustees Should Know about Florida’s New Attorneys’ Fee Statute, co-authored by David J. Akins and David P. Hathaway, the Briefs, Vol. 78, No. 10, a publication of the Orange County Bar Association, October 2010
• What the Obama “Hope” Poster Teaches Us About Copyright Law, Dean Mead Newsletter, February, 2010
• Make It an Even 10: Courts Rely on More Than the Seven Carpenter Factors to Analyze a Claim for Undue Influence of a Will or Trust, The Florida Bar Journal, Vol. 83, No. 6, June, 2009
• Protecting the Attorney-Client Privilege in the Workplace, co-authored with Lindsay J. Dykstra, Legal Update, Fourth Quarter 2008
• Covering Your Assets, (Contributor), First Monday Magazine, June, 2006
• Use a Checklist for Quality Control in Writing Memos, The Young Lawyer, July/August, 2004
• Is a Competitor Using Your Written Business Materials?, Legal Update, Summer, 2004
• Using Trademarks to Protect Your Products and Services, Legal Update, Summer, 2003
• Comment, Is the North Carolina Trade Secrets Protection Act Itself a Secret, and is the Act Worth Protecting?, 77 N.C. L. Rev. 2149, 1999