Dean Dunham is the Managing Partner of the firm and founder. Dean is a corporate solicitor specializing in acquisitions and mergers.
Academic
Dean studied Law at the University of Buckingham (1996 LLB (Hons) and Georgetown University (USA); College of Law, London (1997 LPC), Professional Skills Course (1998).
Practice Area
Corporate and Commercial/International and US law:
Dean specialises in corporate and commercial law and regularly advises on the following:
- Business sale and purchases
- Management Buy-Out/In’s
- Equity restructuring
- Joint Venture agreements
- Various commercial agreements/arrangements
Dean also has a particular specialty in US related transactions and acting for US corporations that have a UK subsidiary.
Notable Deals
Disposal of Matchett Group (£23 million)
Disposal of Fosters Traditional Foods (£15 million)
Acquisition of Hines Corporation ($89 million dollars)
Memberships
Institute of Directors (full member)
Outside Interests
Dean is now becoming a regular face in the media with regard to business and legal issues. Regular football supporter at Spurs.
Gary Smith
Gary Smith is an equity partner at Dunham Law and is Head of the Corporate and Commercial Department. Gary trained in the City of London at the firm now known as Mayer Brown and shortly after qualification in 1999 joined the corporate department of Macfarlanes. On leaving the City in 2003, Gary moved to the corporate department of Shoosmiths Solicitors in Milton Keynes where he met up with his fellow partners, Dean Dunham and Keith Lewington. Gary joined Dunham Law in early 2006 to assist his former colleague, Dean Dunham, with the growth of Dunham Law into what is now widely considered to be a leading corporate/commercial practice within the region.
Academic
University of Warwick (1989-1992) – BA (Hons) in Politics and Sociology
London School of Economics (1992-1993) – MSc (Econ) in Criminal Justice Policy
City University (1993-1995) – LLB in Law
College of Law (1996-1997) – Legal Practice Course
Practice areas
Gary’s practice covers all areas of corporate/commercial and banking work including:
Acquisitions and disposals
Shareholder agreements
LLP Agreements
Private equity investments
Management team advice on MBO/MBI
PLC advisory work including AIM and PLUS flotations
Asset sales and purchases
Third party funding including term loans, invoice discounting and asset based lending
Commercial property funding
Purchases of businesses from insolvency practitioners
Commercial agreements
Notable recent deals
Acted for Howard Sandcliffe Investments 6 Limited on their acquisition of 75% of Fenland Flat Roofing Limited;
Acted with Beshoffs Solicitors advising the management team of The Lowell Group on their secondary MBO;
Acted with Beshoffs Solicitors on the acquisition by Indicia Limited (an EPIC Private Equity investee company) of Entire Limited;
Acted for the Howard Sandcliffe Investments 3 Limited on their acquisition of Adex Interiors;
Acted for the shareholders of Office Communications Limited on their disposal to the PCS Group;
Acted for the Howard Group on a debt funding package with Principality Bank for commercial property development purposes.
Key clients
The Howard Group of Companies
Sandcliffe Investments
Clearway Distribution Limited
The Fiskars Group
Interests
Outside of work Gary spends most of his time with his wife and two children, Benedict and Sotirios. Gary enjoys rugby (watching not playing at his age!), cricket and cycling.
Gary also enjoys adding to (and subtracting from) his wine cellar.
Keith Lewington
Keith joined Dunham Law as a Partner in 2006 after spending most of his working life as a partner with a major national firm.
Academic
Keith was educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton and then at The Queen’s College, Oxford where he gained a combined honours degree in German and French. He went on to study law at The College of Law in Chester and qualified as a solicitor in 1978.
He is also a CEDR accredited mediator.
Practice AreasCommercial
Keith specialises in commercial contract work, advising clients on terms of trading, the set up of agency and distributorship arrangements and a wide range of IT-related contracts from basic software licences and support and maintenance agreements to outsourcing and Software-as-a Service arrangements.
Company
Keith has worked for many years in the field of corporate finance and corporate mergers and acquisitions, handling deals with values ranging from below £1m up to £75m.
Training
Keith lectures extensively on company and commercial law, undertaking a lot of required continuing professional development training for solicitors.
Recent deals
Keith acted for the vendors on the sale of ICAS Ltd to AXA-PPP. He has also been advising on the proposed disposal of a highly valued insurance call centre operation at a value of £50 – 60m. Commercially, he has concluded contracts for the supply and maintenance of telephone systems to a series of large hotel chains and negotiating contracts with a typical value of $20-25m for a leading software services supplier.
Outside Interests
Outside the office, Keith is married with two grown-up sons. His hobbies include golf, more golf, rugby, football and cookery.
John Punni
John is an equity partner and Head of Commercial Property. He was previously a partner at
Tollers LLP before he joined Dunham Law in 2008.
Academic
John qualified as a solicitor in 2002. He studied Law, Economics and Management Science at
Leicester University and then completed Common Professional Exams and the Legal Practice Course
at De Montfort University.
Practice Area
John has a wide range of experience in all aspects of Commercial Property Law including assembling sites
for developers, acquiring and disposing of freehold and leasehold property and arranging and advising
upon complex option agreements, planning agreements, overage and Section 106 Agreements. John has a
particular expertise in dealing with property issues relating to the waste industry.
Notable Deals
John has acted on the purchase of 8 acres of land for use as a cold storage and distributing facility, the
site assembly of a large waste recycling park together with negotiation of terms and putting in place the
leases for the end users. He has also acted in the negotiation of a land promotion agreement in order to
assist land owners in realising their aim of including their land in the local development plan.
Outside Interests
John enjoys travelling and DIY.
Douglas Iles
Douglas is a Partner in Dunham Law and is based at, and heads up our Northampton office. He was previously the head of Corporate law at Tollers LLP before he joined Dunham Law in 2008. Douglas’s career actually started in the area of sales and marketing and so he brings a wealth of practical business knowledge and experience to the businesses for whom he acts.
Academic
Douglas studied Law at Warwick University and De Montford University before qualifying as a solicitor in 1998.
Practice Area
Douglas specialises in advising business owners in relation to all aspects of company and commercial law including the sale and purchase of companies and businesses and the preparation and interpretation of commercial contracts.
Douglas regularly acts for or supervises and manages teams of lawyers who act for; business owners selling their companies; management teams acquiring businesses, and overseas buyers who are acquiring UK companies.
Douglas also has extensive experience in drafting Agency Agreements, Distribution Agreements, Manufacturing Agreements and Software and other intellectual property licensing documentation.
Douglas is company secretary to a variety of local companies including NNDC, the urban generation company for North Northamptonshire and Utilix Limited, the American owned European drilling company.
Notable Deals/Cases
Notable recent transactions for Douglas include: the incorporation of Northants Cricket after over 100 years as a members club, the creation of North Northants Development Company (the Urban Regeneration Company for North Northamptonshire), the sale of K Gray Plumbing to a management buy in team; the sale of Index Books to a FTSE 100 company, the sale of Wastecom to Shanks PLC and the sale of Oakley Waste to an international VC fund.
Douglas also has some expertise in acting for company’s and management teams in relation to Venture Capital investment funding.
Outside Interests
Douglas is married to Caroline and has two children, George and Rebecca. He enjoys golf, cricket and hill walking in his spare time and sits on the board of Northants Cricket. Douglas is proud to be a Northamptonshire Ambassador.
