Managing Partner, Bowles Rice LLP
By Samantha Cart
As the managing partner of Bowles Rice LLP, Tom Heywood is dedicated to ensuring the success of his firm, his employees and his community.
His desire to use his talents to better the lives of others has deep roots. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1982, Heywood took a federal clerkship in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Judge John Field Jr., during which he was able to observe 16 appellate arguments every week.
“That experience really helped me understand effective advocacy,” he says. “I would spend three weeks at our office in Charleston reading briefs in advance of arguments and writing selected opinions assigned by Judge Field following arguments, then one week a month in Richmond observing appellate arguments. That experience was like a fourth year of law school, and I learned a lot.”
Following the clerkship, Heywood joined Bowles Rice and served as an apprentice to Managing Partner Paul Bowles.
“Paul taught me the importance of being a good listener, active civic involvement and giving back,” he says. “To this day, I strive to live up to the standard of excellence he set for all of us at Bowles Rice.”
In 1989, Heywood left the firm to serve as general counsel and later chief of staff to West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton.
“The chance to work for Governor Caperton was very special,” he says. “Gaston and his company, McDonough Caperton, were clients of our firm, and I had the opportunity early on to serve as their primary relationship partner. I knew from my work with him that he was a man of truly remarkable abilities, intelligences, integrity and passion for doing what is right and important. My horizons were dramatically expanded while working in the governor’s office. I came to learn of the many talented and special people working in government, and I developed a keen appreciation for what they do every day and for the value and importance of public service. From Gaston himself, I learned about leadership and character as well as the importance of enthusiasm, positive energy and building and working with teams.”
In 1993, Heywood returned to Bowles Rice with a wealth of knowledge and experience gleaned from his professional mentors. In 2008, he was named the firm’s managing partner, and he has applied his passion for giving back to upholding and building upon a dynamic of teamwork and service ever since.
In his responsibility for providing leadership and direction for the firm, Heywood works to be present in the lives of all 200 members of the Bowles Rice team, whether that is by physically visiting all seven offices with some frequency or by engaging with the lawyers and staff in social and professional settings.
“My favorite thing about being managing partner is the chance to work with so many wonderful and talented people,” he says. “I have learned to look for ways to create growth paths and opportunities for others, which has been fun and rewarding. I have always found that by enabling and empowering others, great things can be accomplished, and I have been reinforced in my conviction about this responsibility of leadership in my work as managing partner. The accomplishments of my team members never cease to amaze me.”
Heywood considers his focus as managing partner to be threefold: to see that all clients and communities receive high-quality services on a timely and consistent basis, to make sure every member of his team has the tools and resources necessary to do their best work and accomplish their career aspirations and dreams and to preserve and enhance the culture of Bowles Rice. This culture includes a commitment to Bowles Rice clients and the communities in which they operate.
“Our mission is to contribute to the success of our clients and the vitality of our communities through advocacy, counsel, leadership and service,” he says. “The commitment to public service and civic engagement is what draws many of us to Bowles Rice and what keeps us here. We encourage everyone to follow their passion when it comes to involvement in charitable and civic endeavors, causes and organizations.”
Much like his mentors, Heywood follows these Bowles Rice principles at work and in his personal life. He serves on 10 committees at Bowles Rice, including his role as chair of the executive committee, and is also active on multiple boards and committees outside the firm.
“I regard my active involvement in civic and charitable organizations across the region and state as important pro bono work,” he says. “It is a vital part of what I do and the source of a tremendous amount of
personal and professional satisfaction.”
He serves a wide variety of organizations, initiatives and foundations, including the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation, Kanawha County Library Foundation, Martha Gaines and Russell Wehrle Memorial Foundation, West Virginia Manufacturers Association, Reconnecting McDowell and Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Heywood credits Bowles Rice’s large, talented team of lawyers and professionals for allowing him to serve in a leadership role while also focusing on client work and his interests in state government. His legal practice includes general corporate and commercial law, health care law and government relations. As the head of the firm’s government relations team, he has been active in legislative and regulatory matters for more than 30 years and has participated in the drafting of hundreds of bills, rules and regulations.
“I hope in some small way I have contributed to improvements in West Virginia’s fiscal condition and various agencies, programs and policies,” he says. “West Virginia has certainly improved dramatically in countless ways over the past 30 years in terms of the funding of long-term obligations, investments in education and improved infrastructure. This is somewhat of an untold and underappreciated story. It has been meaningful to me to have had the chance to work with and support so many committed people in this journey of progress.”
A West Virginian by birth and by choice, Heywood is proud of the life and career he has built in the state he loves.
“Having been fortunate to live in many other wonderful places, I came to appreciate that West Virginia is the most wonderful place of all,” he says. “I cannot imagine living in a place that has more opportunity and a higher quality of life. While I truly believe I am doing nothing more, better or different than hundreds of others in our community over the years, it is a blessing to have the opportunity to help shape that future in some small way.”
