Dean W. Harvey

Dean is the co-chair of the Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Robotics group of Perkins Coie LLP, an international law firm with over 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices in the U.S. and Asia. Dean’s practice focuses on technology-related commercial transactions, product counseling, and data privacy and security. Dean began his legal career at Vinson Elkins LLP, an international law firm, where he rose to become the chair of the firm’s Internet Practice, and he ultimately served as the firm’s Chief Knowledge Officer.

Dean began his technical career after graduating from WVU in 1986 in the R&D department at Electronic Data Systems, Inc. in Dallas Texas. There he developed an expert system running on a Sun Microsystems computer to replace a human mainframe operator. He also developed applications using a fourth-generation language comprised of provably correct code constructs, and he developed a virtual hypercube. Dean transitioned to developing communication device drivers for IBM’s AIX operating system, and then became the Lead Software Architect on a project to develop a graphics terminal emulator at CalComp Technologies. Eventually, he returned to Texas to be responsible for the I/O subsystem of the IBM microkernel, which supported IBM’s OS2/Warp operating system. As his final technical project while in law school, Dean ported the IBM microkernel to a symmetric I/O multi-processor system.

Dean has been ranked continuously since 2003 as a leading technology lawyer in Texas by Chambers & Partners USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers, and since 2006 as a leading practitioner of technology law by the Best Lawyers in America. He has served on the Advisory Board of The Institute for Law and Technology, and on the planning committee for University of Texas Technology Law Conference. He is a member of the Chancellor’s Council for the University of Texas System.