London's success in being selected as one of the five shortlisted candidate cities for the 2012 Olympic Games has been welcomed with enthusiasm by the four City law firms providing expertise and people to the bid organisers - despite the headlines that London finished a 'distant' third behind Paris and Madrid in the initial assessment.

Following this, bid leader Barbara Cassani stood down in favour of Lord Coe.

As Jan Sanders, a partner in Ashurst's energy, transport and infrastructure group, says: 'Races aren't always won from the front.'

Ashurst, along with Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, are among four major partners to the bid being put together by London 2012.

The three firms have agreed to write off their legal work in return for association rights and have each provided a secondee to London 2012.

Berwin Leighton Paisner is among the next tier of supporters, known as 'champions', having agreed to write off a smaller amount of legal fees for providing planning advice in exchange for association rights.

The next key date for the London 2012 bid is 15 November, when the candidature file, or bid book, has to be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC's evaluation team visits London in March 2005 to review the proposal before reporting back to the IOC in May.

London 2012 must then make a final presentation in Singapore on 6 July 2005, with the vote taking place that night.

Charlie Wijeratna, the bid's commercial director and one-time Clifford Chance solicitor, says: 'Without the support of the law firms, we would not have got here today in one piece.

Part of the excitement of this project is the way it is showcasing some of the best of London's professionalism.

'We think we have a very real chance of winning.

It will be a tough battle but, whatever happens, the world now knows that London can put together a credible bid for major sporting events.'

The China Law Council, a joint Law Society and Bar Council group, recently hosted a roundtable called 'Law and the Olympics: Beijing 2008 to London 2012'.

Mr Wijeratna says it was very useful talking to the Chinese lawyers 'who have been through what we are going through now - luckily there weren't any massive shocks'.

For Ashurst, being part of the Olympic bid has a special interest - the gold medal rower Jonny Searle used to work in its sports group, while Paralympic swimmer and nine-times gold medallist Christopher Holmes is one of its litigation trainees.

Ms Sanders says: 'Everyone in the office is excited that we could be involved in bringing the Olympics to London.

There is a kind of camaraderie and team spirit that is very infectious.'

Ashurst was the initial adviser in setting up the bid company.

Ms Sanders says the firm now has two areas of focus.

'One is employment, which involves a lot of work looking at the contracts for all the people who have been involved with London 2012 from the word go and making sure the proper compliances are in place.

'The other area is the infrastructure - making sure the bid is credible in how it would prepare for the games.

It also involves looking at the legacy issues - if something is built, what will it be used for afterwards? How will it affect the local culture?'

She says there is considerable kudos in being associated with the bid.

However, if London wins, it becomes a whole new ball game.

London 2012 will be wound up and replaced by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), which will put any subsequent legal work out to tender on a commercial footing.

Ms Sanders says: 'Although we would hope that having worked on the bid we would be in a strong position, it cannot be taken as a given that it rolls over to the new company.'

Freshfields, led by Tim Jones, head of the firm's London corporate department, is acting as general corporate counsel.

He agrees: 'We are not getting paid for this stage of the work but hopefully there is some upside if the bid is successful and we have managed to position ourselves well to pick up work after that.

'However, working on the bid is, in its own right, a very interesting, high-profile exercise which involves a lot of exposure to a wide variety of organisations from government to large corporates, and we are delighted to be involved in it.'

While the division of work is still 'a bit fluid', he says: 'Our role is likely to involve helping work out the organisational structure.

It doesn't sound much but it is a complex process setting up the agencies which you are going to need to bring together all the different parts of government - and other interested parties - and which will have the power to make things happen and bang heads together.

Related to that is the format of the legislation, which will be needed to cover issues such as special developments and planning powers.'

If London is successful on 6 July 2005, it will have to sign a host city contract with the IOC which sets out the terms of the relationship between the IOC and the games' organisers.

Mr Jones explains: 'It is presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, so understanding the implications in advance is very important.'

He agrees that there is a certain kudos in being involved in something of this scale and national importance.

'At the same time, planning an eight-year process which will involve an enormous range of activities in London, which will require statutory and other powers to make it happen - from control of airspace through transport and acquiring land, to delivering the necessary infrastructure - takes you into a huge number of nooks and crannies of the law.'

Daniel Sandelson, who runs the media practice at Clifford Chance, says the firm is involved in 'anything which falls within the host city contract'.

Interesting areas include the competition aspects relating to the staging of the games and all the rights that go with it.

Other key areas include working out how to secure guaranteed use of venues so far in advance and ensuring the IOC feels comfortable that its intellectual property will be properly protected for the period of the games.

He dismisses the downbeat response of the media to London's chances of winning.

'Cynicism achieves very little.

I think we have a fantastic chance.'

For Ian Trehearne, head of planning at Berwin Leighton Paisner, the bid will prove good for London whether it is successful or not.

'It has moved thinking about investment, about planning, about co-ordination forward a very great amount.

The prospect of hosting the games is also proving a catalyst for the regeneration of London's Lea Valley.

'Transport funding will undoubtedly be the most difficult thing but we could see things surfacing about the east London line, Crossrail and Stansted Airport quite soon.

And it all fits together with making people feel good about an election next year.'

His work so far has been threefold.

Firstly, he has been helping pave the way for the very significant advertising strategy that will have to be put in place.

'The large commercial organisations which will be funding the games have to have a protected environment for their sponsorship, with vigorous controls to avoid "ambush" advertising.

'The second area is interpreting planning documents for London 2012, while the third is talking to the Department of Media, Culture and Sport about their involvement.'

For Berwin Leighton Paisner itself, he says working on the bid is a 'splendid piece of feel-good morale', adding: 'We are also expecting some significant profiling and publicity from it.

And if we reach the implementation stage, I imagine that the expertise we have gathered would carry on.'

The bid has also opened opportunities for other law firms.

Stephen Sellers, director of regeneration at Wragge & Co's London office, is advising the Greater London Authority.

'Our principal task will be reviewing the host city contract, focusing on the financial implications and the risk allocation between the various bodies which will be involved in staging the games.

'The big legacy if we succeed is in regenerating parts of London.

Why do all this work for some sporting events which, for some, will just mean their life is disrupted for a few weeks? It is the legacy one is looking for.'

Whatever the pessimism coming from some quarters in the media, it seems that lawyers - especially those close to the bid - will be fighting London's corner in the forthcoming beauty parade.

Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance journalist