Both sides of the deal.

From the mid-Nineties until the end of 2000, when dot-corn was king in real estate circles, attorney Mitchell S. Berkey was swamped representing tech firms in their leasing deals. Clients from all over the country were closing deals from Silicon Alley to Silicon Valley -- and every major market in between -- for space to house them as they and the Internet grew together.

The NASDAQ tanked, the capital markets turned a cold shoulder to all things technical, and the king died a sudden death. But Berkey's national practice - of which commercial leasing is only a part -- survived and thrived.

"It's the same animal, but now, as it relates to the dot-com space, we're in workout mode," said Berkey, a shareholder in the New York office of the national firm Jenkens & Gilchrist Parker Chapin LLP. "We're taking the same deals we did when dot-com real estate was hot, but re-casting them. It's a challenge, because it requires a thorough analysis of the facts of each deal, an assessment of market realities, and then all the creativity. you can muster.

For Berkey, overseeing the reinvention dot.com real estate parallels his own career. Since taking his law degree from Fordham University in 1983, Berkey has seen every phase of the real estate cycle and been involved with just about every kind of asset -- from hotels and large, mixed-use projects to shopping centers and industrial properties -- as either a lawyer or asset manager. While Berkey was vice president of Merrill Lynch, Hubbard Inc., he was involved in one of the early recovery funds that, in 1988, invested in properties in the southwest. During his tenure on the business side, he oversaw the rehabilitation of shopping centers, marketed real estate investment partnerships, managed a portfolio of commercial properties, and started a third-party asset management group.

Berkey's eclectic practice even took on an international flavor, when he represented foreign governments, including Belgium, in the leasing and construction of their missions in New York. He assisted developers in turning raw land in Connecticut into full-blown family golf centers, and has handled the construction and leasing of movie theaters and high-tech incubators. He has also represented lenders in loan origination and the workout of troubled loans, and in the disposition of. Owned Real Estate (ORE).

"I'm very fortunate to have a background that involves sitting at every end of the real estate table," said Berkey, who was a partner with the New York firm Parker Chapin when it merged with Jenkens & Gilchrist in January. "Experiencing deals from every angle possible gives me a perspective that our clients find helpful. That's particularly important because our clientele represents such a wide range -- from major developer to Fortune 100 tenant to young entrepreneur buying his first significant real estate asset -- and has such varying needs."

Berkey enjoys sharing that perspective and has often addressed young real estate professionals on the key components of closing transactions. "The biggest hurdle for real estate newcomers is the psychology of the deal," Berkey said. "The right, mix of mastering both substance and psychology is key, particularly in the larger projects that involve multiple parties from the public and private sectors."

It was those large scale, public-private projects that enlarged Berkey's reputation in New York legal and real estate circles. From the outset, he and his longtime legal partner, Stephen Estroff, played major roles in one of the most high-profile public-private initiatives in New York -- the redevelopment of 42nd Street. Representing Tishman Realty & Construction, Berkey and Estroff assisted in the ground leasing, financing, development and leasing of EWalk, the 850,000 SF, mixed-use complex in Times Square featuring a hotel, entertainment venues, and retail space.

"Working with the public and private sectors requires a delicate balancing act," Berkey pointed out. "Often the parties' goals are the same, but they have very different views as to how to accomplish them. Balancing those views, reaching compromises and achieving those goals is a professional challenge that I enjoy."

Berkey and the real estate team at Jenkens & Gilchrist Parker Chapin are also representing developers who are converting industrial sites into high-end housing, mostly in lower Manhattan below 23rd Street. Because Wall Street seems rudderless and bonuses are uncertain, fewer of those projects are commencing than six months ago.

"Deals that our clients had in the pipeline will be completed,". Berkey said. "But with the stock market down, Wall Street bonuses being trimmed, and head count reduction at the investment banks, the traditional buyer pool is reduced and construction lenders are wary."

Even with the vagaries of the capital and finance markets, enough new projects are moving forward to keep Berkey and his colleagues working at a hectic pace. A major ground-up TriBeCa hotel that he and his colleagues are working on, for instance, marches on.

Berkey's vast experience is evidence not only of his having participated in real estate from every conceivable angle, but also of his longevity; he has been involved in every boom and swoon of the last two decades.

His first few years were in boom times, but the markets quickly went south in the late Eighties and early Nineties, when Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) and bank bailouts were everyday topics of conversation. He saw the overall rebound, the re-emergence of REITs, the mid-Nineties rise in New York property values, and then the dot-com frenzy, which placed a premium on New Age design and all but ignored cost.

"My experience is the best tool I have," Berkey says. "That's always important, but I think it will become doubly important as my clients look to me for help in navigating the great unknown of the real estate cycle to come."