London 2012

No time to argue. How our dispute resolution lawyers protect the Games from potential problems

Life doesn’t always go to plan. For an event like the Games, there’s no time to down tools while you argue about whose fault a particular problem is.

From day one, we've been working with LOCOG to ensure suppliers deliver on time. That’s most important for the big tasks: appointing the delivery partner and constructing stadia and for all the major procurement projects too.

Stopping trouble before it starts

We built in early ‘tripwires’ to manage suppliers’ adherence to their contracts against detailed project milestones. That meant LOCOG would know right away if there was trouble on the horizon.

Conciliation, not combat

We approached things in a way that fostered co-operation between the parties. For arrangements with the Olympic Delivery Partner, we used the new engineering contract format, which takes a collaborative approach. It entails a three-tier dispute resolution system designed to resolve differences amicably.

Crucially, the arrangements allow work to continue while any disputes are resolved.

Practical remedies

In all our London 2012 contracts, we worked with LOCOG's legal team to build practical remedies, such as ensuring that ownership of things made for LOCOG passed to it as soon as they were created. This reduced the risks if a supplier became insolvent. We also included the right for LOCOG to step in and take over a project, or appoint a new contractor, if standards or milestones weren’t being met.

Our usual service

Our disputes experts are used to coming up with solid, swift and cost-effective remedies for our clients in every sector. The legal tools we use every day in projects that range from building power plants to creating sophisticated banking transactions are the same ones we built into the Games arrangements.

All these measures have helped keep things on the move, so the whole London 2012 vision to date has been delivered within budget and on or ahead of schedule.

Partner Lindsay Marr postponed retirement to do a secondment to LOCOG. He’s helped LOCOG resolve disputes concerning arrangements with the British Olympic Association, the Marathon route and Greenwich Park .

We’d love to tell you more. Contact Jane Jenkins for more details of our dispute resolution experience on the road to London 2012.

London 2012 isn’t just one project but thousands, all interwoven and interdependent. A hold-up in one area could have unfortunate knock-on effects in another.

The lawyers in the LOCOG legal team get all manner of questions because we have an excellent overview of what is going on within LOCOG as a result of working with so many parts of the business. If we don’t know the answer ourselves, then we are likely to know someone who
will. Kat Stephens, Associate

• Kat Stephens, Associate

We used our experience from high-profile insolvencies like Lehman Brothers and Woolworths to build in insolvency protection to LOCOG’s
arrangements.
Jane Jenkins, Partner

• Jane Jenkins, Partner

• Lindsay Marr, Partner