Dean Aldrich founded Aldrich Eike (at that time it was The Aldrich Law Office) in downtown Portland during the spring of 2000.  He started out in a single office suite at the historic Yeon Building.

Dean received his law degree, cum laude, from Tulane University, and received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering, with high scholarship, from Oregon State University. During college, Dean worked in heavy highway construction and building construction. After graduating from college, Dean was a project manager for an international building construction company, Milne Construction, based out of Portland, Oregon. Dean then traveled to New Orleans to attend law school at Tulane. In addition to graduating with honors, Dean was a member of the Tulane National Moot Court team that swept the southeast regional tournament, and advanced to the finals in New York City.

After graduating from law school, Dean focused his legal career on complex litigation. Dean has successfully handled complex trials and arbitrations involving a variety of claims (environmental, trade secrets, construction payment disputes, product liability, construction defect, insurance coverage), and has recently been involved in some of the largest construction defect cases in Oregon, negotiating multi-million dollar settlements, and obtaining an $11.8 million dollar verdict in a challenging, four-week construction defect trial in Multnomah County. Dean also prevailed in a complex insurance coverage trial that has significant impacts for all construction defect cases in Oregon, and developer coverage under condominium policies.

Dean is an AV Peer Review Rated attorney according to the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Ability and General Ethics Standards Rating system, which is a century-long tradition for rating lawyers. Based on the confidential opinions of lawyers and judges, Dean is recognized as pre-eminent in construction litigation, and has reached the height of professional excellence and the highest levels of skill and integrity.

Dean is a member of numerous legal organizations and construction/engineering organizations, and is a frequent speaker on construction litigation. Dean is active in the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association and has testified before the Oregon Legislature on construction defect issues. Dean is also often sought out as a construction defect expert by the local news media.