- Quality Service Putting our clients first and understanding their challenges, objectives and goals and delivering a tailored service that represents value in every sense.
- Heritage Taking pride in our history, embracing our legacy and taking responsibility for the future success of our firm.
- Forward Thinking Striving to be flexible, skilled, able to adapt to the needs of our clients and always thinking several steps ahead.
- Expertise To pursue the delivery of outstanding results in all we do and to be market leaders in our specialist sectors.
- Dynamic To be positive in attitude, energetic, responsive and always on the front foot.
Stephen Dean
Managing Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution
Stephen is the Managing Partner and head of our disputes resolution team. Stephen advises, mediates, resolves and litigates on a wide variety of chancery, commercial and property related disputes.
Stephen has over 20 years' experience advising clients on all areas of property and landlord and tenant law and disputes including vacant possession strategy of large-scale redevelopments; opposed and unopposed lease renewals; breaches of covenant; dilapidations and property related insolvencies. Stephen also advises on disputes arising from developments, easements, rights of way and has particular expertise in rights of light disputes. He also extensive experience representing clients in commercial and Chancery disputes including claims relating to fraud, company and shareholder disputes and trust litigation.
Experience
Stephen qualified as a solicitor in 1999. Some of his career highlights to date include:
- Acting in a leading Court of Appeal claim concerning incidence of costs in unfair prejudice proceedings Re Addbins Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 1793;
- Acting for the Claimant in in injunctive proceedings in the “Ritz Hotel fraud” case, involving issues of common law mistake, Apvodedo NV v Terry Collins;
- Acting in a claim to recover the lease of a London property made by an industrial and provident society to its secretary;
- Acting in one of the largest value Land's Tribunal claims on record relating to a ransom strip valuation;
- Acting in multi-million pound proceedings between former partners involving allegations of express, resulting and constructive trusts, undue influence, estoppel and related property claims;
- Acting for a large London Estate in property recovery proceedings involving issues of Crown immunity and the Rent Act 1977;
- Negotiating a multi-million pound damages payment on behalf of a national charity as compensation for loss of light claim arising from a neighbouring development.
Career to date
Having originally trained and qualified with legacy firm Lee Bolton & Lee, Stephen spent 7 years in the litigation department at a leading City law firm before joining LBMW in 2013. Stephen became the firm's Managing Partner in October 2020.