Thomas Dean is an American lawyer and partner at King & Ballow in Nashville, Tennessee. Born in Savannah, Tennessee, in 1962, he earned degrees from Tennessee institutions, including the University of Tennessee College of Law, and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1988.
Background
Dean was born on March 29, 1962, in Savannah, Tennessee. Savannah is the county seat of Hardin County in West Tennessee and lies along the east bank of the Tennessee River. The town was first established as Rudd's Ferry, named for the ferry service of James Rudd, and it later took the name Savannah, reportedly after the Georgia city that was the hometown of Rudd's wife.
Hardin County was created in 1819 after the Jackson Purchase and was named for Colonel Joseph Hardin. Its history has been closely tied to the Tennessee River, with early industry built around mills along the county's creeks. Savannah has long served as the political center of the county as its county seat.
Education
Dean began his higher education at Volunteer State Community College, a public two-year institution in Gallatin, Tennessee, which began instruction in the fall of 1971 and serves a twelve-county region. He earned an Associate of Science degree there in 1982.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 1984. The Murfreesboro university was founded in 1911 as a teacher-training school, became Middle Tennessee State College in 1943, and was granted university status in 1965. Dean's documented honor society memberships in history and political science, Phi Alpha Theta and Pi Sigma Alpha, reflect the social science focus of his undergraduate years.
Dean completed a Juris Doctor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1988. The law program opened on February 18, 1890, with nine students, became a college in 1912, and became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools. The college was named the Winston College of Law in 2025. During his law studies Dean served on the Moot Court Board and was a member of the first-place team in the Roy H. Jenkins Trial Competition, and he received the American Jurisprudence Award in criminal law.
Career
Dean's early professional experience included a 1984 public service internship with the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, a state body created to study relations among federal, state, and local governments.
Dean was admitted to the bar in Tennessee and the United States in 1988. He was later admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and, in 1990, before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His practice has included trial work in state and federal courts.
He is a partner at King & Ballow, a Nashville firm formed in 1969 by Frank S. King Jr. and Robert L. Ballow. The firm later became known for its work in media, entertainment, and labor law, and it became part of the Meritas network of independent law firms, with its Nashville office serving as the Meritas member for the city.
Achievements
Member of the first-place team in the Roy H. Jenkins Trial Competition.
Membership
Dean's documented memberships include the Nashville Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association. The Nashville Bar Association serves lawyers practicing in the Nashville area, while the Federal Bar Association is a professional organization for lawyers who practice federal law.
His student memberships include Phi Alpha Theta, the international honor society in history, and Pi Sigma Alpha, the national honor society in political science. He is also recorded as a member of Pi Gamma Museum.
