When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meets every four years to discuss the relative merits of bids from candidate host cities, central to those deliberations is the notion of ‘legacy’ – that lasting change should be effected for the benefit of local residents and sportspeople long after the Olympic torch has flickered out and the last cries of jingoistic revelry have subsided.
However, the more immediate benefit of the London 2012 games for the country’s lawyers is keenly anticipated. A Legal Week survey last summer found that more than three-quarters (77%) of senior City lawyers expected their firm to pick up extra work resulting directly from the success of the London bid. Meanwhile, almost half (48%) of the survey’s respondents suggested hosting the Olympics would make a “major contribution” to London’s economic prospects as a financial centre.
