When the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG)’s general counsel (GC) Terry Miller won Legal Business Lawyer of the Year 2013, it was little wonder that it was the most popular award of the night.
Met by rapturous applause from guests that included her boss – LOCOG chair Lord Coe – Miller was recognised for her outstanding work on London’s internationally lauded 2012 Olympics, leading a team of 36 lawyers in setting up the entire Olympic Games legal framework and acting as LOCOG’s ethical compliance officer.
Miller is certainly no stranger to hard work. Before joining LOCOG she was international GC at Goldman Sachs, responsible for overseeing the bank’s legal operations in Europe and Asia.
It was Miller’s former Goldman Sachs colleague Paul Deighton, who became chief executive of LOCOG, that asked her in 2005 if she would lead the committee’s efforts to establish a watertight legal structure for the Games. With all eyes on London, and the capital’s international reputation, Miller said yes.
‘Terry was hugely influential within LOCOG. She positioned the legal team at the very heart of the organisation.’
Tim Jones, Freshfields
One of Miller’s key roles was protecting London 2012’s intellectual property, including the brand and logo. However, her tasks as GC included not only meeting the complex terms of the International Olympic Committee’s Host City Contract against very tight deadlines but also drawing up over 7,000 contracts with venues, hotels, commercial partners, contractors and suppliers. Over the entire Olympic run, Miller said her legal team dealt with tens of thousands of contracts.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the scale, the success of the Games did not always look so assured. Behind the scenes Miller’s team faced a number of complex legal challenges in the run up to the Games, including the issue of raising sponsorship cash and handling the large procurement effort.
‘We worked hard to explain our approach to brand protection – tough on commercial abusers, but keen to ensure that we did not do anything to dampen genuine enthusiasm and engagement by the general public.’
Terry Miller, LOCOG
One dispute that was most definitely not behind the scenes was with security services company, G4S, which famously at the eleventh hour failed to provide enough security personnel for the Games.
Miller says: ‘A commercial settlement with G4S was announced in mid-February, which was something the legal team worked on closely with our finance and security colleagues to achieve.’
Another dispute to hit the headlines along the way was Irish bookmaker Paddy Power’s injunction against LOCOG, forcing it to reverse its decision to remove posters declaring that Paddy Power was the ‘official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this year’. The bookmaker was sponsoring an egg and spoon race in a small French town called London.
However, for Miller this dispute was more of a minor hiccup than a major setback.
‘The Paddy Power story was over in 48 hours and I would not consider this to be a significant legal challenge – it was a publicity stunt,’ she says. ‘We worked very hard to explain our approach to brand protection in the years leading up to the Games and during the Games – tough on commercial abusers, but keen to ensure that we did not do anything to dampen genuine enthusiasm and engagement by the general public.’
In any event, these disputes were managed successfully and with little impact on the tremendous success of London 2012. With the Games behind them, most of the 36-strong legal team have since dispersed, leaving just Miller, who works on a part-time basis, and one other member on the premises, alongside continued support from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Miller says the Magic Circle firm was selected to be the official legal services provider for the Games based on its great depth in terms of the range of practice areas the firm covers, its flexibility and its commitment. In particular, Miller singles out Freshfields’ Olympic relationship partner Tim Jones as being very supportive of the Games.
‘We could not have delivered the Games without their [Freshfields’] ongoing support. They really were a part of the team,’ Miller adds.
Currently, LOCOG is undergoing voluntary liquidation with an aim of completely winding up matters by the end of May. At present, the team is working with the finance department to ensure all of the remaining contracts are reconciled and closed out.
| Career | |
|---|---|
| 1977 | Graduated and worked in enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission as branch chief in Washington DC |
| 1985 | Joined Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and became partner |
| 1989 | Joined Goldman Sachs, becoming partner and international general counsel |
| 2006 | General counsel, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games |
‘Before people left town they were required to review all the contractual relationships they were responsible for, and agree with counterparties a close-out reconciliation. If there were any issues, these were referred to the legal team to deal with,’ says Miller.
Over half of Miller’s former legal team were core employees, while the remainder were on secondment from Freshfields. After the Games, most returned to the law firm.
Other lawyers from the core team have dispersed variously into consulting, in-house roles and private practice. For example, Dalton Odendaal, who was head of legal and commercial at LOCOG for five years, rejoined Harbottle & Lewis in April. In the year leading up to the Games until 2012 he was also director of business development at the British Olympic Association, where he was responsible for securing sponsorship and licensing deals for the 2013-16 squad.
For Miller, the Olympic experience is ending soon, as she decided not to join the team for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Her life in the limelight will be replaced by spending time with her family and her horses, but her legacy will live on.
Freshfields’ Jones says: ‘Terry was hugely influential within LOCOG. She positioned the legal team at the very heart of the organisation, ensuring consistently high standards of professionalism across the many disparate strands of activity. She brought her huge experience to bear in her role as a key adviser to the board and the senior executive team. At the same time, she was a thoughtful mentor to the members of her team and for us at Freshfields a great person to work alongside.’