Danielle Upton
A Derby solicitor is up for an award for her rapid legal expertise which ensured a local firm could deliver a critical Government contract to supply COVID tests.
Danielle Upton, an associate solicitor in Commercial Property at Smith Partnership in Derby, has been shortlisted for the Rising Star category of the British Legal Awards for the work she did during the pandemic, using her law skills in the race to save lives.
Danielle, 34, stepped in to help SureScreen Diagnostics, a Derby-based firm which is a key UK supplier of COVID-19 lateral flow tests to the Government.
Last year the company received an order for 20 million tests as part of the UK’s rapid testing programme, alongside strong demand from COVID-hit countries worldwide. This left it needing to scale up rapidly, including adding a new state-of-the-art lateral flow test manufacturing and distribution hub to its growing property portfolio.
Time was of the essence with COVID rampant across the country and the tests in desperate needto give millions of people the all-important result that would make the difference between carrying on as normal or going into isolation.
Danielle had previously helped the firm secure three premises in and around Derby and for this next expansion SureScreen wanted to purchase a 80,000 sq ft unit next at Sherwood Business Park next to the M1 motorway.
To enable SureScreen to take immediate occupation of the property, Danielle had to quickly agree a Tenancy at Will, striking the right balance between SureScreen’s commercial commitments and the level of risk they were willing to take.
Once this had been agreed, Danielle completed a review of the complex title to the property, undertook a full set of searches and raised enquiries with the seller. It was the type of transaction which would usually have been allocated to a large team of Partners, associates and assistants, but due to furlough and working from home, that was not possible.
She cut her leave short and worked late into the evening, working closely with the seller’s solicitor – a leading London firm – in order to complete the transaction.
She managed to take all of it in her stride to complete the purchase – one of the biggest property deals in the region at the time – in just two months.
It also created hundreds of jobs and enabled SureScreen to start producing many millions of lateral flow tests within weeks.
Kevin McGrath, managing partner at Smith Partnership, said Danielle thoroughly deserved the award nomination.
“It’s not often you can say that a property lawyer has helped save lives, but Danielle’s work for SureScreen certainly did so, which is why we are so proud of her,” he said.
“However, we’re not surprised: although Danielle was under a lot of pressure with much of her support team on furlough and with her own health concerns surrounding COVID, she showed what we always knew she was capable of.
“SureScreen essentially asked her to pull a rabbit out of a hat and Danielle worked incredibly hard to ensure that they got what they needed in an incredibly short time, overcoming very many challenges without cutting corners or compromising on checks and assurances.”
The awards will take place at the Royal Lancaster in London in November.
