Kenneth Bagshaw Click here to see full sized version.

In 2004 Kenneth Bagshaw turned 65, the mandatory retirement age at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, and he was prepared to go gracefully into the sunset and do some 'consulting work on the side.' Instead, shortly before reaching the retirement deadline, Bagshaw accepted the biggest challenge of his legal career: the position of chief legal officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

'The job is quite exciting and somewhat exhausting,' Bagshaw told The Lawyers Weekly, in an interview a few weeks before the start of the Games.

Being named VANOC’s head legal honcho is just the cherry-on-top of Bagshaw’s illustrious legal career as a corporate lawyer and managing partner. Bagshaw graduated from the University of British Columbia’s law school as the Gold Medallist in 1964. He articled at Ladner Downs and rose to managing partner of the venerable Vancouver-based law firm. In 1999, Bagshaw was a key player behind the merger of Ladner Downs with four other regional powerhouses to form Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. In effect, Bagshaw spent his entire 40-year long legal career at one firm.

As chief legal officer for VANOC, Bagshaw oversees a team of 11 lawyers who are supported by five national law firms.  His team serves the legal needs of 52 departments of VANOC, which has a capital budget of $590 million for building and renovating Olympic venues and an operating budget of $1.8 billion. At its peak, VANOC will have 1,500 full-time employees, 2,000 part-time employee and 22,000 volunteers.

'We deal with an alphabet soup of legal topics from aboriginal law to zoning regulations,' Bagshaw says. Procurement of goods and services for the games exceeds $1-billion, which means that Bagshaw’s legal team is kept busy primarily negotiating, drafting and vetting thousands of contracts.  

Bagshaw’s management style is very hands on. 'I try to roll up my sleeves and work alongside my team, be as much a working lawyer as a manager,' Bagshaw says.

As the opening of the Games approached, the legal demands from VANOC ratcheted up dramatically.

'The effect is like a tsunami with numerous late-stage legal needs from all departments all compressed in a huge wave,' Bagshaw said. He has launched a legal command centre and retained two litigation departments to handle any legal actions which might arise during the Games.

'We’ve positioned ourselves to be able to react immediately at game time when there really isn’t any time to react,' Bagshaw says. He adds that his litigators have prepared precedents for injunctions and claims in advance just to smack down ambush marketers — businesses that try to make money by associating themselves with the Olympics without actually paying for sponsorship, such as merchandise bearing unauthorized Olympic logos.

With all the demands placed upon Bagshaw and his legal team, will they have time to watch any Olympic events?

'If we’ve done our job right there shouldn’t be a lot to do at game time,' he said.

Bagshaw and his legal team will be working double shifts during the Olympics. Most of the legal team will be on call and stationed at various venues throughout the Olympic grounds.

As for Bagshaw, he plans to take in a few events.

'I hope to see the ski jumping competition and short-track speed skating.'