David Christopher Deal

David C. Deal was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated from T.C. Williams High School in 1988, where he captained the varsity rowing team. David earned a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) from the University of Virginia in 1993, and a Juris Doctor from Villanova University School of Law in 2013.

David Deal is the founder of and principal attorney at The Law Office of David C. Deal, P.L.C. David is a nationally-recognized intellectual property attorney, specializing in copyright infringement matters on behalf of photographers and businesses throughout the United States and Europe. David has successfully litigated cases of all sizes and complexities in a majority of Federal jurisdictions.

David has worked extensively on the case of Vivian Maier. At the time of her death in 2009, Ms. Maier had captured hundreds of thousands of captivating images documenting city life in New York and Chicago, almost all of which had never been seen or appreciated by the public during her lifetime. David researched and wrote about the legal and moral issues involved when Ms. Maier’s work was exploited by individuals and organizations which did not possess copyright to Ms. Maier’s images (Moral Rights, Copyrights, and the Case of Vivian Maier, Villanova Law School, February 2013). David performed exhaustive genealogical research on Ms. Maier’s extended family, which led to discovery of Ms. Maier’s heirs and the creation of the Estate of Vivian Maier by the Cook County (IL) Probate Court.

Prior to founding The Law Office of David C. Deal, David worked for nearly twenty years as a free-lance documentary and portrait photographer. He traveled the United States and Europe on assignment, and his work was featured in magazines and newspapers throughout the world. He photographed well-known athletes, politicians, and businesspeople, as well as individuals outside the public view. In 2001, Alter Books published Prospects: A Portrait of Minor League Baseball, a collection of David’s photographs and short essays. His fine art photographs are included in the permanent collections of major museums and private collectors in the United States.

David is an avid runner, cyclist, and triathlete, and has competed in numerous long-distance road and trail races, as well as Ironman-distance triathlons.