Dean was born in Sioux City, Iowa. Prior to completion of his undergraduate studies, Dean served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1980 from the University of South Dakota, where he was elected President of Phi Sigma Alpha political science fraternity, received the Political Science Leadership Award, and was elected to membership in the National Political Science Honor Society.

While a student at the University of Nebraska College of Law, Dean served as a member of the Nebraska Law Review, as executive editor of the Nebraska Transcript, and as director of Law Student Research Service. He was elected Dean of Delta Theta Phi legal fraternity, and was a recipient of the Lane Foundation Scholarship. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1983.

Before joining Wolfe Snowden as a partner, Dean served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Richard C. Peck, U.S. Magistrate for the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, and was in private practice in Omaha and Lincoln. Dean is a member of the Lincoln Bar Association, the Omaha Bar Association, the Nebraska State Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and its section on Litigation, the Defense Research Institute, the Nebraska Defense Counsel, and the Nebraska State Bar Association Committee on Civil Practice and Procedure. He is admitted to practice in the state courts of Iowa and Nebraska, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Dean has completed the Advanced Program at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and is engaged in general civil litigation and trial practice.

Dean and his wife, Sue, have two boys.