The UK government has appointed eight firms to a new panel for to the Department for Transport's rail division, with Linklaters, DLA Piper and Ashurst among those winning places.

The new panel, which has an estimated value of £50m, has been set up as part of the government's new legal services framework. The previous arrangement, which expired earlier this year, has been replaced by four new panels, of which the rail legal services panel is one.