Mark Dakeyne

With more than a few years of experience in transactional development deals, ranging from out-of-town retail and industrial schemes to current city centre regeneration schemes. Along the way, I work with site owners selling to or partnering with developers.

Tel: +44 (0)121 214 1054

Email: mark_dakeyne@wragge.com

Best at ...

I believe that a good deal for a client is one where the other party (and its lawyer) comes out thinking they have a good deal too. It's important to bring the other side of a deal along with you. If the other client agrees with me, I'm more than halfway there.

Highlight of your career so far?

My most exciting deals are always the ones that I'm in the middle of. Getting some buildings off the ground can involve drastic measures but it's always thrilling. At Arena Central, a seven-acre site in the very heart of Birmingham, the first step involves demolishing five floors of concrete TV studios and exhibition space that has lain unused and neglected for too many years. Even in legal terms, it's been constructive and enjoyable. I have worked with two other lawyers at other firms who have - dare I say it – become friends during the prolonged process. All doing our best to create a new quarter for the city to rival Brindleyplace and bring new landmark buildings to the Midlands was a great experience.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

A deal that challenged all who worked on it, from clients to lawyers to bankers, was buying 36 hotels for an entrepreneur client whom I'd known for years but whose courage and risk-taking had never been so sorely tested. We were buying an intricate group of companies, which had been teetering for months on the edge of insolvency and yet held promise of underlying value waiting to be unlocked. I was just the humble conveyancer and client partner – the corporate and banking boys and girls bore the real brunt of a cross-border transaction that never wanted to lie down and come quietly. The weeks stretched into months and the nights became a blur of conference calls and US-timed email negotiating. We did close the deal but the client was caught by a downturn in hotel valuations and has since broken up the portfolio and sold on the majority. It was probably always a challenge too far!

What's your definition of going the extra mile?

I've recently passed my silver wedding anniversary. Well, it nearly passed me by, as I had to postpone our cosy dinner to try to close a deal instead. It didn't close, needless to say, and I think I may leave it another 25 years before putting my marriage to that test again….

Giving your clients a competitive edge?

One of the great things about being a development and investment lawyer is that you can feel and touch the before and after photos. Our clients transform landscapes; they bring old sites back into new life; the developing cityscape truly is in their hands. I always try to visit the sites, to understand the scale of the project and the physical context. Yes, developers are in it for the cash but they are also the realiser of their clients' dreams – for a new headquarters office with style or a new shopping centre that a council has been trying for years to bring to fruition.

That's why we lawyers need to understand what makes our clients tick. It's not the wording of the legal document so much as capturing what the two parties want to achieve and weaving our way through the paperwork to resolve fears or lack of trust and getting the deal-doers to the signature table as quickly as we can.

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

Chambers UK described me as 'energetic, astute and easy-going', which tired me out just reading it. I was genuinely proud to be awarded 'Best Property Lawyer' at this year's inaugural Variety Club of Great Britain Midlands Property Awards in May 2007, even though I should have shared this award with many others who make me look better than I am.