Wendy L. Dean, Circuit Mediation Officer

Ms. Dean is the Circuit Mediation Officer for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ms. Dean administers the program, serves as deputy to the Chief Circuit Mediator, and mediates matters involving all areas of the court’s subject matter jurisdiction. Ms. Dean previously served in the court’s Senior Staff Attorney Office for five years. In this capacity, Ms. Dean advised the court on complex jurisdictional, substantive, and procedural issues in all subject matter areas within the court’s jurisdiction, assisted the court with dispositions of motions and petitions, and provided research and advice as requested by the court on substantive, procedural and administrative matters.

Before joining the court team, Ms. Dean practiced law at Arnold & Porter LLP in Washington, D.C. and Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She earned her law degree from Vanderbilt University and was an editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Upon graduation, Ms. Dean clerked for Chief Justice Robert E. Rose (retired) of the Supreme Court of Nevada.

Ms. Dean has received professional and advanced mediation training from the Pepperdine University School of Law Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, the Center for Dispute Settlement, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and the Federal Judicial Center.

Ms. Dean is the author of the articles Let's Make a Deal: Negotiating Resolution of Intellectual Property Disputes Through Mandatory Mediation at the Federal Circuit, 6 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 365 (2007) and Getting the Most Out of Appellate Intellectual Property Mediation at the Federal Circuit, Bright Ideas Vol. 16, No. 2 (Fall 2007).