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 The Beijing Olympic Games come to a close this weekend and the international sports community turns their attention to the 2010 Vancouver Games and the 2012 London Games.
 
The Olympics inspire a multitude of feelings and generate a healthy amount of debate. One thing for certain is that a tremendous amount of preparation is required by the hosting city and the effort of a variety of people are required to pull it all together.
 
An interesting article posted on timesonline looks at the impact of the Olympic Games on the legal profession. The article boldly declares that lawyers are as much a part of the sporting community as athletes. It goes on to describe how the Olympics generate a boom in legal work as a result of preventing ambush marketing and unauthorized broadcasts as well as both defending and prosecuting anti-doping cases.
 
For those interested in learning more about international sports law, a great international law blog Opinio Juris featured some excellent expert commentators during the Beijing Games. A compelling post discussed the growing prominence of athletes representing countries that they are not citizens of. The author contrasts a competitor’s identity vs. a national identity and explains the requirements under the Olympics Charter for an athlete to compete for a nation.
 
Congratulations to all the athletes and let's get ready for 2010!
 
Enjoy your weekend,

Diane Vieira

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Today, if I have my count right, is day eleven of the Olympics. For certain, the Olympics stimulate debate on a spectrum of important social, political, economic and, of course, athletic issues of our time. I do not intend to touch upon those debates. Over the past ten days of the Olympics, however, incredible stories of the athletes have arisen, and will no doubt continue to arise. Some, like Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals, involve incredible success, almost beyond one’s imagination, while others involve success on a more personal level or, as the saying goes, the agony of defeat. These stories, from whatever viewpoint, are quite remarkable and have no doubt involved the setting of objectives, planning and dedication and commitment to the goal.

While perhaps obvious, it continues to strike me as to the extent that these athletes live in the moment or for the day. So much rises and falls for them with one or in some cases several performances. What onlookers of the Olympics take away from the Olympics is no doubt personal but perhaps the notion of setting objectives, striving to obtain them while living for the day is the most universal.

What do these stories actually have to do with Estates? From a legal standpoint, nothing. However, perhaps the above notion may focus us to consider our own legacy and the steps that have been taken, or should be taken now, to ensure that those that benefit from that legacy are the intended ones.

Keep watching.

Craig