In conversation with Tim Anderson, Corporate Partner

As Tim Anderson celebrates forty years at RPC last month, we catch up with him to learn more about his career at RPC and his plans for future. 

So Tim where did all start…..

I went to school at Aylesbury Grammar School and then onto Southampton University and law school at the College of Law, London.  Law runs in the family and my father, George Anderson, was senior partner of Chamberlains before it merged in circa 1972 to form Reynolds Porter Chamberlain.  He was an insurance lawyer and retired in 1988.

I was informally interviewed for RPC at the age of 14 by the charismatic Keith Lomas, another former senior partner, at one of my parents parties! (about the age I was in the first photograph!).  Keith said to me 'you'll be working for me one day' and so I did and joined the firm in 1984!  I joined as an Articled Clerk, there were five in each annual intake. Some of you may remember the great, and sadly late, Jonathan Davis in the same intake.  I wanted to focus on Corporate law and my mentor was the late Alan Toulson.  I replaced Tim Conti in the team and sat at his old desk, which was convenient as when clients called on the direct line for Tim that is what they got, if not the one they were expecting; a seamless transition of Tims. 

The firm has changed so much since I joined. At the time we were in a grade C building in Holborn with cheap rent next to Lincolns Inn Fields.  In many ways it was a Dickensian law firm - we had no computers; just letter and the phone.  We went down to the law courts with triplicate documents.  One amusing event was when we got our new fax machine (I appreciate many will not know this piece of technology). We were doing a large deal under some time pressure with Slaughter and May and the corporate partner Michael Garston, instead of biking the draft contract ten minutes down the road, decided to fax this 150-page document from our office on the third floor. It took three hours to go through the machine page by page. Three hours later Garston's secretary got a call from the post room in the basement. "Fax for Mr Garston". We thought this must be a very prompt response from Slaughters until the document arrived and we saw it was our document; it had never left the building as Garston's secretary had faxed the document from the 3rd floor to the basement. We all thought this was hilarious; Michael was rather less amused! Anyway, despite the lack of modern technology I really do not think the practice of law has changed much – we still deliver a personal service. So I would be surprised if AI was the "death of lawyers". That has been said after every tech advancement in my lifetime as a lawyer.

It was a big transition moving to Tower Bridge House, it changed the firm.  We looked like a professional outfit. Indeed in a survey with clients, undertaken shortly after the move, the building came out with the highest marks; we had to raise our game to match the building! Which we did partly because we were now able to recruit from the best law firms.

When I joined the Corporate team, there were only two partners and seven in the whole commercial group; it was very much a side show to the insurance practice.  The commercial side of the firm is now of equal significance, and I am pleased to have contributed to that growth. We have done so many M&A and commercial transactions over the years but one that really sticks in my mind was the launch of the Metro newspaper on the London Underground. I did the contract work. The launch of a free paper on London Underground was a new concept and LUL was fearful. It followed ten years after the 1987 Kings Cross fire disaster where years of rubbish under an escalator caught fire with many casualties. Associated Newspapers engaged experts to fire test a bin stack of Metro papers. The top few pages may burn but the bin stack did not ignite as there was no oxygen between the tightly packed papers. With this evidence we were able to satisfy them. As it turned out, Metro very rarely gets thrown to the ground or onto the tracks; those left behind are picked up and read by others. A little bit of history.

The only remaining partner from my arrival at RPC is Geraldine Elliott and she was an associate when I joined. I have worked closely with Geraldine throughout my career; she is a first-class lawyer and was and still is my 'go to' partner for any commercial litigation, whether she likes it or not!

Geraldine said of Tim "He has been a wonderful friend and colleague for these many years.  Many of RPC's client relationships today have developed from seeds sown and nurtured by Tim.   He has not only been a founding father of our Corporate team but has made profound mark on the wider firm. Whilst Tim can be a man of few words (at least before that first glass of red) those words are thoughtful and wise.  I add my personal heartfelt thank you."

I enjoyed many roles during my career, including leading the Corporate/M&A practice for about 20 years and being a member of PEX (Partner Executive Committee) for a similar period. If I had one impact on PEX, it was identifying that we needed greater professional support and I was instrumental in the recruitment of Adrian Martin, the former managing partner of BDO, who became our first COO. Adrian was instrumental in driving us up market into Tower Bridge House. My key learning, and it took me a while to get there, is that leadership is not about telling people what to do (although this can be necessary), but rather about empowering others.

RPC has allowed me to progress my career as I wished. I never felt the need to move on because I could do everything I wanted within that framework. For example, I had roles outside the firm. From 1990, I was Company Secretary of Dialog Semiconductor plc, listed on Frankfurt, which we sold for €4bn about four years ago. I was also a director of Dialog until about 2006 when, quite correctly, corporate governance tightened up after the US Enron scandal; having me as a director whilst the CEO handed out significant volumes of work to RPC was clearly not a good look! More recently, I was Company Secretary for Ceres Power plc which went from the AIM market to full listing with Karen Hendy leading the legal team on the deal.  I found these external appointments a great way to unlock opportunities for RPC, particularly in the technology space, and I certainly learnt a lot sitting at board meetings with senior NEDs. I would like to thank Karen Hendy for taking over as head of Corporate, allowing me to move on to other things. I hope she is enjoying it! Karen is certainly doing a better job than I ever did.

Karen Hendy said "Tim was the second person I met at RPC (the first being James Mee!). Over the years, he has become a friend as well as a mentor.  Tim doesn't always say a lot though, invariably, when he does you get words of wisdom and decades of commercial experience. Tim laid the foundations for what the Corporate department is today. He has a great ability to allow people to grow whilst supporting and guiding them and always has the time to listen, whether that's in a meeting room, in his beloved garden, watching the rugby with clients, or over a glass of red wine….!   Congratulations on 40 years at RPC Tim! And thank you."

I attended the first ever global meeting of Terralex, which was hosted by RPC in London in about 1990. For a number of years, these meetings felt like the "old farts club", maybe because I was a young partner then; so I attended sporadically until the meeting in Hong Kong in about 2008. By that time, it was clear that our larger UK clients were expanding abroad and that, if we did not want to lose them to the global firms, we had better help them on their journey. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Terralex had professionalised, and a lot of the lawyers now had international experience and spoke good English. It seemed considerably less of an old farts club; but then again, I was getting older! I realised I could work with it to the benefit of our clients and set about establishing a European panel in the key jurisdictions in Europe with a view to selling this to our clients. A year later, perhaps noting my energy on this, or to stop me running my own agenda in Terralex, I was appointed co-chair of the M&A practice group; a position I held for about a decade when we were able to transition this role to Karen. One thing I learnt about being co-chair of the practice group was about marketing. I have never been a great one for selling myself at cocktail parties, but I discovered that, by chairing the meeting, and hopefully saying something interesting or amusing (normally at the expense of my French friend Alexander de Guyon-Matignon), people would come up to me after the event to chat about things. So what I learnt is that people can find their individual routes to marketing, based on what they enjoy or are good at; invariably the same thing.

James Miller said "I had the pleasure of working closely with Tim and ultimately working alongside him as joint Managing Partners.  Tim never wasted words or time which is a skill I have tried to copy.  He is the consummate professional but also a seriously nice bloke – great to have on your team when the water is choppy and the sailing far from smooth.  I wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

For the last 8 years I have been the Chair of the trustees of the forum@greenwich, a large charitable community centre in Greenwich London. I am really enjoying this, although it is tough going, with grants diminished, Covid closure, energy prices rocketing. But this is my little reality check with life; as I sit typing this in my lovely house in Greenwich 20 minutes walkaway on the Trafalgar Road life can come rushing at you; drug dealers, shootings in the car park, police being called to fights at the food bank - all balanced by kids enjoying the soft play, adults enjoying ballet and Ciroc etc.

What skills or lessons have I learned that I find invaluable? I quote from Gil Scott-Heron, the blues-ologist, a line from his fantastic song B-Movie "You can panic now, and avoid the rush".  I use this in my day-to-day work, as soon as a job comes in, I sit down and plan the next 3-4 steps, to avoid any pitfalls.  Too many lawyers excited about the new job just plough straight in. Take a pause.

My advice to those just starting their careers is to always volunteer when asked.  Also I fear too many young lawyers type emails, when we need to pick up the phone more often.  It has so many benefits and you can learn so much more about your clients and, of course, it's brilliant for building relationships. Finally, acknowledgement, a smile and a good morning takes no time and elicits a positive response and be generous to those that support you.

I hope that RPC continues with profitable growth at a rate that satisfies the ambitions of those following the likes of me. A couple of weeks ago I attended the Alumni event as an RPC partner. When I do finally exit stage left, I will definitely still attend as I thought it was a terrific event. It was clear that those Alumnus attending really enjoyed it and will continue to be positive advocates for the firm wherever they are. Well done Gavin Reese and supporting team.

I live in Greenwich with my wife, Alex Anderson, also a partner at RPC. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last month, having first been introduced by Gavin Reese at the firm's then local pub, The Three Cups in Holborn.  We have two daughters: Rebecca, who has just started at Bristol University studying law; and Emma, who is just starting her A levels, and is not going into law!  I still play hockey once a week with the over sixties London league at the Spencer Club in Wandsworth (pictured). 

We have a gorgeous cocker spaniel called Cara, acquired from David Wallis in the Corporate team, who has me wrapped around her little paw (see pictures below). I would like to say RPC is amazing for me. It has been more  like Amazon: I got a father, wife, dog, some great friends and even a half decent career here.  I am currently learning to play the piano, to which I promise I will not subject you.

I am now semi-retired and working with a few start-up businesses, a creative agency and software business, and you never know work might come RPC's way.

Tim wishing you many congratulations on your 40th anniversary from us all.