Maxwell
Marrison

Max is a Partner in our Real Estate team.  He is an experienced lawyer with a commercial focus, who works collaboratively with clients and colleagues to ‘get deals done’ without having to compromise on the outcome.  Max is known for his significant experience dealing with all areas of commercial property, including mixed use developments, high end retail work, and commercial lending.

Max enjoys being involved in Real Estate, which gives him the chance to physically see buildings and construction projects that he’s played a small part in dealing with.  He says, “no day is the same. Life as a lawyer is fast-paced, challenging, but never dull”.

Building relationships with clients, the buzz of a transaction, and the intellectual challenge of negotiating documents and finding solutions so that clients can achieve their objectives are all parts of the job that Max finds motivating and rewarding.

A focus on the critical issues

When it comes to client work, he says, “it’s important to build a rapport with clients, to spend time getting to understand their business and what they want to achieve on each transaction.  I appreciate that clients are very busy, so I need to focus on the critical issues”.

A technically sound lawyer, with all round experience of a wide range of real estate work, Max is known for his friendly and collaborative approach – “it may be a cliché, but I try not to ‘point score’, but focus on getting the deal done with all sides happy with the outcome”. To help do this, he tries to identify the issues that are important to his client at the outset of a transaction.

“It’s really important to take a step back and have time to think clearly”

Max notes that the most challenging part of his work is the sheer volume of it – and the time pressure, but he counteracts this by planning ahead, getting support from colleagues and, he says, “it’s really important to take a step back and have time to think clearly”. That way, he is confident he can provide clients with the best solutions to their problems.

A good communicator, Max recently re-joined Walker Morris after 15 years elsewhere, and he points out that, “people work in a collaborative manner, with a focus on achieving best outcomes for the clients. It’s great to be part of this team”.

Max is the first generation of his family to have a career in law.  Although he admits it’s not quite as glamorous as the TV shows he watched growing up would have him believe, (he doesn’t own a Ferrari like Arnold Becker), nevertheless, it is exciting and rewarding.