Olympics: bid team to be replaced by joint venture company

The body charged with delivering the 2012 Olympic Games in London will look to set up a legal panel within the next three to six months, its commercial and legal director has told the Gazette.


Ex-Clifford Chance lawyer Charles Wijeratna said the immediate focus was on issues such as the transition from a bid to a joint venture organising company, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Ltd, and the passage of the Olympic Bill through Parliament.


'Looking further ahead, I am going to put together a panel for various types of work such as corporate, employment, infrastructure, intellectual property, brand protection and litigation,' he added. 'We will set it up when the dust has settled a bit. At the moment it is not appropriate as there is not a lot to do. But it is a fantastic position to be in - everybody wants to be involved.'


Four City firms were involved in assisting the London campaign team in the run up to last week's vote, in return for the right to be associated with the bid and to use its logo.


Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer provided general corporate advice, while Ashurst gave corporate and banking input. Clifford Chance handled the intellectual property, trademarks and brand protection side, while Berwin Leighton Paisner advised on planning issues.


Mr Wijeratna was full of praise for the firms' contribution.


'They were all brilliant,' he said. 'One of the reasons the bid was successful was that it was viewed by the International Olympic Committee as being extremely professional and thoroughly prepared, and no small part of that was due to the amount of legal work done.'