Dean A. Christopherson

Mr. Christopherson brings exceptional insight and depth of understanding to his mediation and litigation practice, drawing on more than 30 years of experience in commercial and banking litigation. 

In September 2016, Mr. Christopherson tried an action in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, achieving a $3 million judgment in favor of his client, a well known international heavy equipment manufacturer, and against his NYSE traded opponent.

Coming from an early background as an in-house counsel for Wells Fargo Bank, Mr. Christopherson has developed a successful litigation practice focusing on defense claims relaring to real estate secured lending (wrongful foreclosure, equitable subordination, partition, eminent domain, and mechanic’s liens) and personal property loans and leases (“Lemon Law”, the California Automobile Sales Finance and Vehicle Leasing Acts, and dealer fraud). 

Cases arising in retail banking, including claims for improper payment of forged checks at the hands of an embezzling bookkeeper and losses from safe deposit boxes are also in Mr. Christopherson’s area of expertise. 

Mr. Christopherson is skilled both at recovering collateral and collecting money from commercial and consumer debtors. His expertise extends to prejudgment writs of possession (i.e., replevin) and attachment (i.e., imposing a prejudgment lien to secure previously unsecured obligations). Furthermore, contempt proceedings are sometimes filed against judgment debtors who ignore, at their peril, a judgment requiring that they redeliver collateral.

He has also, on occasion, represented debtors in defense of collection actions, asserting FDCPA claims when appropriate, and with good results.

In the mediation realm, Mr. Christopherson focuses on maintaining a civil and cordial process, requiring the parties to try to look at the dispute through fresh eyes and find collaborative solutions when possible.