CONSTRUCTION law experts at Denison Till, the York commercial lawyers firm, have been given an instruction to draw up contracts for the building of a new crane rail system in Panama.

The firm at Stamford House, Piccadilly, one of relatively few to have a dedicated construction law department, has been appointed by Canadian lawyers Black Sutherland, Toronto, to act on its behalf in the major multi-million dollar construction project.

Denison Till is now assisting Black Sutherland's client, engineering company Gantrex USA Inc, Pittsburgh, over the design, supply and installation of the new crane rail system for the Hong Kong Dredging Corporation being built at Balboa Docks, Panama, for the Balboa Docks Authority.

The contract came to Denison Till through its membership of Geneva Group International, one of the world's top ten networks of independent lawyers, accountants, tax and management consultants, whose Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group is chaired by Andrew Lindsay, Denison Till's corporate department partner.

Gareth Hevey, Denison Till's head of construction law, and Julian Still, a non-practising barrister in the firm's construction law department, are finalising negotiations on the contracts, which confirm completion deadlines and risk management connected with the supply of goods and services for the project.

Mr Hevey said: "It is an accepted principle that English law is most appropriate for contracts of this kind because of its international context and widely-regarded arbitration process. Because of this, we do carry out international work from time to time, but this project is especially interesting because of the nature of the parties involved."