Born in Algiers, Louisiana, Dean Sutherland graduated from LSUNO in 1973. He received a Juris Doctorate with honors (Order of the Coif) from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 1975. After law school, Dean served as a law clerk for Associate Justice Albert Tate, Jr. of the Supreme Court of Louisiana (1975 – 1976).

During years of active trial and appellate civil practice before Louisiana and federal courts, Dean developed a comprehensive knowledge of admiralty and maritime law, Louisiana and federal workers’ compensation law, as well as Louisiana tort and insurance law. His legal practice focuses on admiralty and maritime law, insurance coverage disputes, insurance bad faith claims, construction and civil litigation.

Since 1984, Dean has maintained an “AV Preeminent” peer review rating in Martindale-Hubbell. He was nominated by his peers and selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers of America, in the fields of admiralty law and insurance law, and in Louisiana Super Lawyers in the field of insurance coverage.

In 2015, the LSU Hebert Law Center designated Dean as a Distinguished Achievement Award Honoree for his professional achievement and career distinction, service to and support of LSU Law, and service to the community. Previously, Dean was elected into the LSU Hebert Law Center “Hall of Fame.”

Dean’s article on Louisiana insurance “bad faith” law received the 2007 Stephen T. Victory Award for the best feature article in the Louisiana Bar Journal. He authored another article that revisited this area of the law in the 2010 Louisiana Bar Journal.

Dean is a co-author of Cases and Materials on Maritime Law by Maraist, Galligan, Maraist & Sutherland, American Casebook Series (WEST Group – Third Edition, 2016) and Cases and Materials on Maritime Law by Maraist, Galligan, Sutherland & Kuebel, American Casebook Series (WEST Group – Fourth Edition, 2022). He is also a co-author of Admiralty in a nutshell by Maraist, Galligan, Maraist & Sutherland, (West Academic Publishing – Seventh Edition, 2017) and Admiralty in a nutshell by Maraist, Galligan, Sutherland & Kuebel, (West Academic Publishing – Eighth Edition, 2022).

Dean served as a member of the Adjunct Faculty of Loyola University School of Law, teaching Maritime Personal Injury Law, Admiralty and Maritime Law, Employees’ Remedies (1984-1990) and Insurance Law (1998 – 2010). He is an Adjunct Professor at the LSU Hebert Law Center, where he has taught Maritime Personal Injury Law, Admiralty and Maritime Law, Advanced Tort Litigation Seminar, Admiralty – Torts and Maritime Commerce (1991, 2001- Present).

Dean has taught more than one thousand attorneys and law students in trial advocacy and deposition legal education programs sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, American Bar Association Section of Litigation, LSU Hebert Law Center, Loyola Law School and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. He received awards from NITA and LSU for his trial advocacy teaching.

In 1984, Dean co-founded the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy. He was a member of the Faculty and Board of Directors for that program until it ended in 2015. He served as the Program Director of the LADC Trial Academy for many years.

Dean coaches the LSU Hebert Law Center teams that compete in the national Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court competition. In 2010, he was awarded the inaugural Susan C. Kalinka “Coach of the Year Award” by the LSU Hebert Law Center Moot Court and Trial Advocacy Boards. His admiralty moot court teams have won numerous brief and oral advocacy awards, cumulating in the 2015, 2016 and 2018 National Championships and the 2019 and 2020 David W. Robertson Outstanding Law School awards in that competition.

In 2003, Dean joined Jeansonne & Remondet as Of Counsel to its New Orleans’ office. He has been a member of the American and Louisiana Bar Associations, as well as the Maritime Law Association of the United States and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. After serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the LADC, between 2016 and 2022, Dean served as an officer of the LADC. He was elected President of that 1,000+ member defense lawyer organization in 2021.

Dean has served on the LSU Hebert Law Center Board of Trustees and the LSU Hebert Law Center Chancellor’s Council. He was a Co-Founder, Master and Executive Committee Member of the Judge John C. Boutall American Inn of Court.