Warsaw - Lawyers from the Warsaw office of global law firm K&L Gates LLP have advised Chinese construction and engineering company China Overseas Engineering Group Co., Ltd (Covec) in the resolution of a dispute with the Polish General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) related to the construction of sections of the A2 Motorway between Lodz and Warsaw, Poland.

The K&L Gates team that helped obtain the historic settlement agreement in the dispute was led by construction and infrastructure partner Dr. Joanna Lagowska, who has worked with the client for six years, and included senior associates Dawid Rapkiewicz and Joanna Gasowski and associates Michal Szumbarski and Lukasz Gembis.

"We are delighted to have represented Covec from the very beginning of the dispute: in legal proceedings involving GDDKiA, in negotiations, and at the conclusion and execution of the settlement," said Lagowska. "This settlement is an extremely important event for both parties as well as for the future of the global infrastructure sector."

Having won the tender for the A2 Motorway construction in late 2009, Covec was the first Chinese company to win a tender for the construction of a European motorway, a collaboration which drew attention not only in Poland but throughout Europe. The motorway was intended to allow football fans to travel to EURO 2012, which Poland was hosting for the first time. The work was not completed, leading to a dispute between the parties with claims exceeding one billion zloty.

K&L Gates' Warsaw office consists of more than 50 lawyers with substantial experience advising on some of Poland's largest foreign investments; working with and on behalf of the Polish government; and providing Polish and international clients with a broad range of transactional, advisory, and dispute resolution services.