Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

London 2012 today announces that international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been chosen as the official legal services provider to the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Lawyers from Freshfields, both on secondment at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and in Freshfields’ offices, will be providing a range of legal advice to LOCOG to help deliver a successful Games in 2012.

London 2012 Chairman Sebastian Coe said, ‘The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are the world’s largest peacetime events and it is vital that they are built on secure foundations – working with the best legal minds will ensure this happens. Freshfields know the project inside out – they supported us during the bid and they will be a vital part of the team as we head towards 2012.’

Guy Morton, Freshfields’ joint senior partner said, ‘We are proud that Freshfields will be providing the legal advice that this enormously complex event demands and welcome the opportunity to give practical support to the ideals of the Olympic movement. We are looking forward to helping LOCOG deliver a Games for everyone in 2012.’

Freshfields will be providing the full range of legal services, through a combination of secondees and ad hoc advice, complementing and working alongside LOCOG’s legal team. The scope of the legal advice broadly covers property; venue use agreements; employment law; intellectual property, brand protection and sponsorship rights; general corporate and commercial advice; procurement and competition law; tax law; and dispute resolution.

For more information contact:

Anna Mitchell, head of communications, anna.mitchell@freshfields.com, +44 (0) 20 7785 2033 or Christian Marroni, senior PR manager, christian.marroni@freshfields.com , +44 (0) 20 7427 3984

Notes for editors

As it heads towards its £2bn budget for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG now has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF Energy, Lloyds TSB and Nortel. There are three domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, Cadbury and Deloitte. There are four domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Adecco, Airwave, Boston Consulting Group and now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

The Worldwide Olympic Partners signed up for 2012 are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa.

For further information please visit the website at www.london2012.com.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been involved with London’s vision for the 2012 Games since September 2003. The firm advised the London 2012 bid company pro bono in the period up to the Singapore decision, with legal work focusing in particular on the governance structure for London. The firm drafted LOCOG’s shareholder agreement and worked on the interaction of key stakeholders with LOCOG and the Olympic Delivery Authority and on the legislative framework for the Games. Since London was appointed to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Freshfields has worked with both LOCOG and the ODA.

Over the five years of the firm’s involvement, its lawyers have advised on a diverse range of issues reflecting the complexity of the London 2012 project. Scope includes major contractual commitments, such as the Delivery Partner agreement; procurement issues and public sector classifications; corporate governance; intellectual property; dispute resolution; real estate and company law.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is an integrated international law firm and operates from 27 offices in 16 countries, including all the main financial centres of the world. Our 2,500 plus lawyers provide unrivalled technical and commercial advice to the world's leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments, helping them deal with their most challenging and complex business issues and transactions.

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The official legal services provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games