An Interview With Tim Foden, Partner At Boies Schiller

In an unique interview, Law firm Monthly speaks with Tim Foden, Companion at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, about his job so significantly.

What profession milestones are you most happy of?

I can consider of three:  Joining Boies Schiller Flexner as a companion felt like a genuine milestone mainly because I have always held David Boies and Jonathan Schiller in superior regard.  I’m happy to be component of this agency.  I truly feel like I have arrived.  

Growing LALIVE’s business office from 2 people to nearly 30 also filled me with immense delight.  We’re looking for to replicate that achievement at BSF London, but on a grander scale and with a platform that is broader than just arbitration. But the occupation milestone I’m most happy of is working to receive President Obama’s to start with-ever presidential commutation for my client, the late Eugenia Jennings. Other than increasing my kids, which is almost certainly the very best factor I’ve accomplished with my life.  

What does it get to mature a profitable law agency?

You have to have to have a obvious plan of what you want the firm to be, in which you want to position it in the market place and what type of dynamic you want to have in the workplace.  When you have that vision, you can then drive the different jobs essential to develop the company.  With BSF, the eyesight is apparent – we are in the course of action of setting up an place of work that mirrors the full array of dispute disciplines that we have in the United States:  complicated business litigation, arbitration and investigations.  We are also in search of to align the London and Milan workplaces a lot more carefully with the United States.  I was at Quinn Emanuel in London for nearly 5 years and observed Richard East and Sue Prevezer QC do specifically that, so I realized from some of the ideal.  You then have to provide that vision to the purchasers.  And listen, clients adore it – they really like listening to that your organization does a single factor, disputes, and does it nicely.  My clients are likely to be mining companies and are principally concentrated on a single commodity or even a person asset, so they can relate to a legislation agency that isn’t seeking to be all factors to all persons.

As for the business dynamic, it’s a ton less difficult to increase a effective business office if folks really want to work there.  With the type of work we do at BSF and our payment bundle, we have a all-natural edge in recruitment.  But I think that the achievements I have had in recruitment springs from the truth that I create a entertaining put to operate, one particular that is both equally serious about the get the job done but irreverent in most other respects.  I have tattoos and pay attention to punk rock in my office, when folks see that they are likely to unwind and be a lot more them selves, which is what we want.  At the very same time, I show associates regard for their time and legitimate interest in building their careers.  After phrase of that acquired around London, it became a great deal simpler to recruit good talent.  Funds and significant-profile do the job are good, but folks want to discover and be respected as well.  It is remarkably uncomplicated to give all those latter two matters, but funnily enough, it’s uncommon.

What have been some of the most challenging conditions you’ve labored on through your job?

Cases can be tough for myriad explanations. For many years I litigated promises from Iran and Libya on behalf of victims of acts of terrorism that we alleged individuals States sponsored.  That was emotionally draining as we experienced to adduce proof of the psychological and physical hurt induced to victims and their family customers.  These activities took position in the 1980s so we were being, successfully, reopening previous wounds.

I have also had situations that were challenging due to the fact our shopper, shall we say, did not usually have the regulation or the info on its side.  This is the test of a superior disputes law firm – conquering the weaknesses in your client’s circumstance. I as soon as experienced a colleague who every single time we experienced a demanding case, wished he could argue the other side’s placement. I believed that was insane. The task is about that problem.

How has the Ukraine War and the subsequent exacerbation of inflation/the price-of-residing crisis impacted vitality disputes? 

The most obvious problem developed by the war is that, prior to the war, Ukraine experienced made sizeable variations to its regulatory framework for renewable power and traders had commenced to line up to provide claims against Ukraine for those improvements. I cannot imagine that all those conditions will progress any time quickly.  

Sadly, occasions of financial disaster can be remarkably advantageous for attorneys in the power disputes room. Consider, for instance, the 2008 financial crisis’s affect on Spain’s renewable electrical power framework.  A high feed-in tariff for photo voltaic energy producers appeared a good detail when financial periods were great.  With the disaster, Spain deemed those feed-in tariffs unsustainable as its so-named “tariff deficit” grew even worse, leading to a radical regulatory overhaul that has now produced near to 40 unique scenarios in opposition to Spain.  The recent disaster is likely to prompt comparable regulatory conduct and, most probably, much more promises versus Sovereigns.  

What is the most popular causation of mining disputes in Africa and how are these disputes generally solved?

Most of the latest disputes in Africa have resulted from a wave of source nationalism that swept the continent from about 2015 to present.  Thoughts you, this sort of nationalism is not peculiar to Africa you can obtain it in Europe, Latin America and Central Asia as very well. In Africa, numerous States look at that mining income have not been shared similarly with the governing administration and society as a total.  Even though this age-outdated grievance does have some foundation in truth in specified jurisdictions, States often consider a sledgehammer to their regulatory framework when a scalpel would suffice to proper the financial imbalance.  The sledgehammer can bring about a large amount of collateral problems, specially for smaller providers that are pumping a lot-desired funds into States for exploration.  

In some cases disputes with a Point out can be fixed by way of negotiation, but in conditions in which a policy is electorally driven, the Point out can be locked into a placement.  If you’ve demonised international mining providers in purchase to get elected, it gets tough to describe to the voters why you have then arrived at a offer with those businesses.  In that zero-sum activity situation, most usually you will come across oneself in international arbitration.  That’s exactly where I are likely to arrive in.  

That said, I am proudest of the work I have performed with mining providers to arrive at amicable settlements with African States.  Miners want to mine, not litigate.  I dealt with one particular situation in West Africa in which we had been in a position to enable the consumer reach a really favourable result, which was also to the State’s advantage in phrases of tax and royalty profits.  I’m generally asked by clientele regardless of whether setting up an arbitration is like pulling a pin on a grenade, you can not put it back again in.  The reply is no, as shown by that West African knowledge.  It’s trite to say, but eventually, we as legal professionals are there to realize excellent outcomes for our purchasers.  That does not always necessarily mean a major dollars award.

What advice do you have for everyone looking to go after a very similar profession path to oneself? 

To my intellect, practising international arbitration is the most pleasurable a person can have in regulation.  It is rather attractive stuff – big dollar figures, a lot of worldwide travel, extraordinary hearing moments, and continually studying about new industries and legal methods.  Younger attorneys are, understandably, attracted to that.  But you can not go significantly in this field if you are not a reliable attorney.  And you turn out to be a strong attorney by litigating in your residence jurisdiction just before getting an intercontinental lawyer.  You have to have roots in a domestic authorized program.  As well typically I see younger attorneys who, say, do an LLM, and consider that they can soar right into worldwide arbitration without possessing practised substantive law in any one jurisdiction.  That does not get the job done and outcomes in a lawyer who, as a pal would say, is “all hat and no cattle”.  I mentor a lot of younger arbitration attorneys and I motivate them to get experience in litigation.