U.S. judges weigh how to knit together BP lawsuits

* Judicial panel set to hear arguments on linking lawsuits

* Standing room only in Boise, Idaho, courtroom

* New Orleans, Houston seen as possible sites for cases

By George Prentice

BOISE, Idaho, July 29 (Reuters) - More than 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico shoreline, lawyers were set on Thursday to argue before a judicial panel on how hundreds of spill-related lawsuits against BP Plc (BP.L) should be merged.

It was standing room only ahead of the start of the hearing in Boise's federal courthouse, with some lawyers jockeying for bench seats in the hallway.

Boise was chosen as the site for the meeting of the special panel, formally known as the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, as part of a regularly scheduled rotation among federal courts.

The panel of seven judges will consider which U.S. court, or courts, should oversee the hundreds of civil lawsuits filed in federal courts in the wake of the April 20 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion, and which judge will be assigned to handle them. Other cases are pending in state courts.

Lawsuits have been brought by injured rig workers, fishermen, investors and property owners against BP and other defendants.

No immediate decision is expected from the judicial panel on where it will send the lawsuits for consolidation.

Attorneys were huddling, in groups of three to six each, to consider combining their arguments to the judges. A court administrator told them their allotted times to speak. Some were told they will have as much as 10 minutes, while others will only have one minute.

At issue is whether to merge the pending lawsuits under one judicial district, such as New Orleans or Houston.

BP has asked that the cases be combined in Houston, America's oil capital, where the company has its U.S. headquarters.

Some plaintiffs are pressing for New Orleans, where tourism has taken a hit amid concerns about the slick. They say that holding the proceedings there could also have good economic benefits for a city whose hotels and restaurants are still reeling from the fallout of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Boise panel will decide whether the cases belong under the umbrella of one court, or potentially several courts. The courts and judges that are chosen would oversee the discovery and deposition process, as well as settle important matters such as which laws to apply. (Reporting by George Prentice; Editing by Martha Graybow and John Wallace)