An Interview With Tim Foden, Partner At Boies Schiller Flexner

In an unique interview, Lawyer Every month speaks with Tim Foden, Associate at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, about his occupation so far.

What occupation milestones are you most proud of?

I can think of a few:  Signing up for Boies Schiller Flexner as a husband or wife felt like a genuine milestone simply because I have often held David Boies and Jonathan Schiller in substantial regard.  I’m proud to be component of this firm.  I experience like I’ve arrived.  

Rising LALIVE’s office environment from 2 persons to almost 30 also stuffed me with immense pride.  We’re trying to get to replicate that good results 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 proud of is working to get President Obama’s first-at any time presidential commutation for my shopper, the late Eugenia Jennings. Other than elevating my children, that is probably the ideal point I’ve completed with my life.  

What does it take to grow a productive law agency?

You will need to have a obvious thought of what you want the business to be, in which you want to placement it in the market and what kind of dynamic you want to have in the workplace.  As soon as you have that vision, you can then generate the a variety of duties desired to develop the business.  With BSF, the eyesight is crystal clear – we are in the course of action of creating an business office that mirrors the whole assortment of dispute disciplines that we have in the United States:  advanced industrial litigation, arbitration and investigations.  We are also searching for to align the London and Milan places of work additional intently with the United States.  I was at Quinn Emanuel in London for practically 5 several years and saw Richard East and Sue Prevezer QC do particularly that, so I learned from some of the finest.  You then have to provide that vision to the consumers.  And listen, purchasers enjoy it – they really like hearing that your company does one detail, disputes, and does it well.  My customers are likely to be mining organizations and are generally focused on a single commodity or even one asset, so they can relate to a law company that isn’t striving to be all items to all persons.

As for the office dynamic, it’s a large amount less complicated to increase a thriving business if people essentially want to function there.  With the kind of work we do at BSF and our compensation bundle, we have a purely natural benefit in recruitment.  But I feel that the achievement I have had in recruitment springs from the fact that I make a pleasurable put to do the job, 1 that is both of those serious about the do the job but irreverent in most other respects.  I have tattoos and pay attention to punk rock in my workplace, when individuals see that they have a tendency to rest and be much more on their own, which is what we want.  At the very same time, I present associates regard for their time and legitimate curiosity in acquiring their professions.  Once term of that obtained about London, it turned a good deal less complicated to recruit fantastic expertise.  Money and high-profile operate are great, but individuals want to understand and be respected as perfectly.  It’s remarkably quick to deliver people latter two things, but funnily adequate, it’s unusual.

What have been some of the most tough conditions you’ve labored on throughout your profession?

Conditions can be tough for myriad causes. For yrs I litigated promises in opposition to Iran and Libya on behalf of victims of acts of terrorism that we alleged all those States sponsored.  That was emotionally draining as we had to adduce proof of the emotional and bodily damage brought about to victims and their spouse and children members.  These gatherings took put in the 1980s so we were being, properly, reopening previous wounds.

I’ve also had circumstances that have been hard simply because our client, shall we say, did not normally have the legislation or the specifics on its facet.  This is the take a look at of a excellent disputes law firm – conquering the weaknesses in your client’s case. I when had a colleague who every time we experienced a complicated situation, wished he could argue the other side’s situation. I believed that was ridiculous. The task is about that problem.

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

The most evident difficulty produced by the war is that, prior to the war, Ukraine had built important variations to its regulatory framework for renewable electrical power and investors had commenced to line up to bring statements towards Ukraine for those people variations. I just can’t imagine that individuals scenarios will commence any time soon.  

Regrettably, occasions of financial crisis can be remarkably valuable for legal professionals in the power disputes area. Acquire, for occasion, the 2008 economic crisis’s impact on Spain’s renewable vitality framework.  A superior feed-in tariff for photo voltaic electricity producers seemed a superior thing when economic instances ended up good.  With the disaster, Spain deemed these feed-in tariffs unsustainable as its so-identified as “tariff deficit” grew even worse, primary to a radical regulatory overhaul that has now created shut to 40 unique conditions against Spain.  The existing crisis is probably to prompt similar regulatory perform and, most probably, a lot more statements versus Sovereigns.  

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

Most of the recent disputes in Africa have resulted from a wave of useful resource nationalism that swept the continent from approximately 2015 to present.  Head you, this variety of nationalism is not peculiar to Africa you can find it in Europe, Latin The us and Central Asia as well. In Africa, lots of States contemplate that mining earnings have not been shared similarly with the government and modern society as a whole.  Whilst this age-outdated criticism does have some basis in simple fact in specified jurisdictions, States typically just take a sledgehammer to their regulatory framework when a scalpel would suffice to appropriate the economic imbalance.  The sledgehammer can trigger a lot of collateral damage, significantly for more compact companies that are pumping considerably-desired capital into States for exploration.  

From time to time disputes with a State can be solved through negotiation, but in instances exactly where a policy is electorally driven, the Condition can be locked into a placement.  If you’ve demonised foreign mining providers in order to get elected, it becomes difficult to clarify to the citizens why you have then attained a deal with all those corporations.  In that zero-sum match circumstance, most often you will uncover oneself in international arbitration.  That is the place I are likely to occur in.  

That mentioned, I am proudest of the do the job I have carried out with mining corporations to reach amicable settlements with African States.  Miners want to mine, not litigate.  I handled one situation in West Africa in which we were capable to support the customer achieve a hugely favourable consequence, which was also to the State’s advantage in phrases of tax and royalty revenue.  I’m often requested by shoppers whether beginning an arbitration is like pulling a pin on a grenade, you just cannot set it back again in.  The remedy is no, as shown by that West African encounter.  It’s trite to say, but eventually, we as attorneys are there to achieve superior outcomes for our customers.  That does not constantly suggest a major funds award.

What suggestions do you have for any individual hunting to go after a comparable vocation route to yourself? 

To my thoughts, practising global arbitration is the most pleasurable just one can have in legislation.  It’s rather pretty stuff – significant dollar figures, plenty of intercontinental journey, remarkable hearing moments, and frequently discovering about new industries and legal techniques.  Young legal professionals are, understandably, attracted to that.  But you are unable to go much in this subject if you are not a solid attorney.  And you develop into a solid attorney by litigating in your residence jurisdiction ahead of getting an intercontinental lawyer.  You have to have roots in a domestic legal program.  As well generally I see young lawyers who, say, do an LLM, and imagine that they can bounce right into worldwide arbitration devoid of acquiring practised substantive legislation in any a person jurisdiction.  That doesn’t do the job and benefits in a lawyer who, as a mate would say, is “all hat and no cattle”.  I mentor a lot of youthful arbitration attorneys and I encourage them to get knowledge in litigation.