Drafting in the British reserve

In January 2001, US firm Reed Smith and UK firm Warner Cranston completed merger negotiations and began trading as Reed Smith Warner Cranston (since January 2003, it has been branded Reed Smith). Tim Foster played a pivotal role in the run up to merger and has continued to stamp his mark as UK managing partner. Caroline Poynton talks to the man at the centre of Reed Smith's international expansion.

Tim Foster isn’t comfortable talking about his role as a successful law-firm leader. Despite playing a crucial function in the negotiation and implementation of the merger between his firm, Warner Cranston, and US firm, Reed Smith, (for which he was praised by the US as having done: “A great job integrating the UK operations”, and as “a very steady, level-headed manager”.), he consistently evades the questions that most directly demand any reference to his own managerial or leadership abilities.

I ask him about his greatest successes, and he talks about treating triumph and disaster just the same. I try to bring the conversation round to his qualities as a leader, and Foster says: “It’s dangerous to promote the cult of your own personality.” For a man who has overseen the UK firm’s turnover increase by 51 per cent in the two years since the firm’s merger, and who has also enjoyed phenomenal staff retention and recruitment rates over that time, Tim Foster is proving to be something of an enigma.

First and foremost, Foster has led a career seemingly bereft of any burning ambition. He says that the legal profession was a natural progression to his time at school where he realised his strengths lay in writing, communication and working with people. Neither did he envisage a managerial role for himself. Rather, he explains, it was a strong sense of duty that allowed him to be pulled in different directions. Even now, when talking of the future, he says it would be silly and dangerous to think that he’ll have a perpetual role in management.

This is all very well and good, and Foster is clearly a charming and modest character, who demonstrates an abundance of what we might call British reserve. There is, however, another side to this managing partner, an aspect to his character that has enabled his rise to a top-management role, inspires the trust and confidence of his team, and will ensure he continues to play a central role in the future business operations of the UK offices of Reed Smith.

Foster joined Warner Cranston in 1991 and became a partner in 1992. Crucially, he already had some important experience working in the chemical, coatings, fibres and textiles industries from 1985-1991. He believes this helped develop his commercial edge and a practical, down-to-earth approach that has since formed a backbone to some significant client work. For example, Foster leads the UK firm’s largest client relationships with Sara Lee Corporation and Akzo Nobel. His combination of commercial and professional experience must have also put him in the spotlight when Warner Cranston and later Reed Smith were looking for suitable management material.

Whatever the innate qualities that led Foster to becoming UK managing partner, he quickly found a niche for himself at Warner Cranston, following up his partnership with managerial roles from the mid-90s. At the back end of that decade, Foster played a crucial role in driving the merger strategy at Warner Cranston. The firm’s ties with the US both in terms of clients and skills convinced them that a US merger would be the right strategy and Foster became one of a three-member team that met seriously with three firms. One of them was Reed Smith.

Mergers are rarely an easy option for growth, and we have seen more failures than successes in the examples of recent years. Equally, the term merger has been used somewhat loosely in situations where a larger firm is clearly acquiring a smaller, less profitable partnership. Foster would not only have to navigate the delicate negotiations to ensure partner buy-in and firm-wide acceptance, but also ensure that the identity and strengths of Warner Cranston would not be lost to the greater size of the US partner.

For Foster, partner buy-in was the priority. “You have some partners who can see it’s very good for them individually,” he says, “and others who are more conservative and who perceive a threat in the merger. To pull that together and get everyone on side is clearly a challenge.”

The merger, which he describes as a shining example of a true marriage, has required partners to be flexible in order to become part of a one-firm approach, but Foster is convinced that the UK culture has also been maintained and extended. This belief is perhaps best born out by the number of UK lawyers that have since come to work and train with the firm (the UK headcount increased from 137 to 196 between January 2001 and December 2002). As Foster says: “We haven’t become amorphous or merely the local office of the US firm, we’ve retained much of our culture and the reality of being a great place for people to work.”

Foster’s position at the helm of the merger strategy has left him and his firm in an important position as Reed Smith now has a successful and independent UK arm that has real practical experience of working with clients in the US and Europe. Foster agrees that the UK office will be in a prime position to help make things happen on a European stage. Some of the UK partners know countries such as France and Germany very well and they could play an important role in bringing together contacts, ideas and an international perspective. Foster himself might be in a prime position to lead such explorations or negotiations, but he successfully manages to divert to another topic before we can fully discuss such avenues and I realise that I have once again witnessed Foster’s reticence when it comes to himself.

What can be ascertained of Foster’s humility is that he attributes much of the success of the firm to his team rather than himself. He believes that the ultimate test as to whether things are working are if people are comfortable, well communicated to and growing as individuals. Of the merger, he says: “We saw it through because it fundamentally made sense for us and we were able to communicate that. We had a really good sense of team in the partners and associates and a sense of trust that if our top partners thought it was a good idea, then we should go for it.”

This is the fundamental point. Foster is keen to demonstrate that he leads from the middle rather than the top down. He frequently describes himself as being down to earth, straight-forward and real, and he wants to contribute to a fun working environment where people can grow. Perhaps it is this keen sense of being just one member of a successful team that has convinced him to avoid anything that might appear egotistical. It is also, perhaps, a quality that has inspired the trust and support of colleagues who, he admits, have been key players in supporting him in the management roles he has so far enjoyed.

Support for Foster could also be explained by his approach to management. He mentions a common pitfall for managers across professions – that of trying to make all the decisions without consulting others. He has also understood the problems of managing partners falling into micromanagement, where they end up irritating or confusing other managers, such as HR, because they’re not keeping a sense of proportion to deliver on the overall vision and strategy of the firm.

This latter point illustrates some of the conflict in Foster’s role: of being a leader while remaining on a level with your partners. Sometimes, this dual aim seems to go too far and his attitude appears strangely passive. He gives the impression that opportunities have merely fallen his way, and his rise to managing partner has been based on the actions of others rather than personal ambition.

However, this would be to miss the bigger picture. Foster is clearly passionate about his role and responsibility in driving the future direction of the firm. In managing the progress of the potentially unhinging events of the past three years, Foster has had to demonstrate decisiveness and a clear strategy, while effectively communicating the firm’s direction to the rest of the team. His approach to this dual role is best portrayed by Foster when he says: “You need to give people a sense of identity in the firm – how they can make the most of their role in the larger team. It’s also a matter of knowing your groups, linking them up and integrating the different aspects.” Foster is also keenly aware of his role in a firm such as Reed Smith, where he has had to be decisive while being open about the decisions he makes.

The successful international expansion of such a well renowned firm as Reed Smith was never going to be easy and the challenges will continue well into the future. Tim Foster, however, the enigmatic leader, seems to be more than up for the job.

Tim Foster is UK managing partner at Reed Smith Warner Cranston. He can be contacted at: tfoster@reedsmith.co.uk.