Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Year Joined Organization: 2000

Lawyer Overview

Dean D. Hunt focuses his practice on complex technical litigation and telecommunications and has substantial experience in state, federal and bankruptcy courts.

Mr. Hunt has acted as lead counsel for plaintiffs and defendants in high profile cases, including numerous class action and multiparty litigations. His litigation experience also includes lender liability, mass personal injury cases, First Amendment, securities, oil and gas, trademarks and Fair Credit Reporting Act cases. Prior to practicing law, Mr. Hunt spent ten years as an engineer and executive at a major multinational oil company.

Mr. Hunt represents industrial clients, engineering firms and equipment fabricators. Relying on his extensive engineering background, Mr. Hunt has also acted as lead counsel for telecommunications industry leaders for network buildouts, zoning and land use, statutory and regulatory matters and agency and franchise law issues.

In 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Mr. Hunt earned the distinction of “Texas Super Lawyer” as determined by Law & Politics and Texas Monthly magazine. In 2006 he was named one of the “Best Lawyers in Houston” by H Texas magazine. His experience includes:

• Lead counsel in obtaining summary judgment dismissing nationwide class action lawsuit contesting legality of evergreen renewal clauses in customer service agreements;
• Lead counsel for major residential mortgage lender in obtaining dismissal of federal multiparty lender liability lawsuit;
• Lead counsel in numerous state court injunction proceedings brought under theories of nuisance and invasion of privacy by residents seeking removal of cellular telephone towers located near their homes;
• Lead counsel in obtaining dismissal of purported nationwide class action lawsuit alleging misrepresentations related to consumer billing practices;
• Lead counsel in obtaining dismissal of wrongful death lawsuit alleging cellular telephone transmissions caused a fatal brain tumor;
• Lead counsel for major international engineering and construction firm in obtaining favorable settlement of multiparty dispute involving catastrophic failure of oil refinery equipment;
• Lead counsel in successful appeals filed by wireless carriers under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 contesting municipalities' authority to deny applications to install cellular transmission towers;
• Obtained favorable settlements of dealer termination lawsuits brought by former agents alleging unfair business practices and fraud in their agent relationships;
• Represented the wireless industry in constitutional challenges of taxes on cellular customers and provided testimony in various telecommunications legislative proceedings; and
• Lead real estate counsel for wireless carriers and tower management companies in numerous wireless network buildouts involving hundreds of wireless transmission facilities in Texas and Louisiana.

Mr. Hunt is a frequent lecturer on e-discovery and preserving the lawyer-client privilege in a wireless business environment. Mr. Hunt is a member of the Houston Bar Association and is the Chair of the Governing Council of the Corporate Counsel Section of the State Bar of Texas. He is President of the Board of Directors for the Houston Law Review Alumni Association and is a member of Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts.

Areas of Practice

• Litigation: Class Action Defense
• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation: Product Liability & Toxic Tort

Bar Admissions

• Texas, 1991
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas, 1994
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas, 1996
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit, 1996
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2008

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Houston Bar Association (Member)
• State Bar of Texas (Chair, Governing Council of the Corporate Counsel Section)
• Houston Law Review Alumni Association (President of the Board of Directors)
• Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts (Member)

Education

• University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas, 1990
  J.D.
  Honors: cum laude
  
  Law Review: University of Houston Law Review, 1989 - 1980
• University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, 1980
  B.S.
  Honors: Graduated First in Class with High Distinction
  Major: Chemical Engineering

Published Works

• Privileged Information Disclosure is Complex Issue for Companies, Houston Business Journal, April 20, 2007

Address

1000 Louisiana
Suite 2000
Houston, TX 77002-5009

Phones

(713) 646-1346

Faxes

(713) 751-1717

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.bakerlaw.com