DAC Beachcroft wins award for its outstanding support to the NHS in the fight against COVID-19

Published 20 November 2020

International law firm DAC Beachcroft has won the ‘Crisis Management Firm of the Year’ award at this year’s British Legal Awards for its exceptional support to the NHS at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The British Legal Awards, which are run by Legal Week and were announced on 19 November 2020, recognise legal teams that have made an extraordinary contribution to clients and their projects.

DAC Beachcroft won the accolade for ‘Crisis Management Firm of the Year’, a new award category in this year’s awards that sought to highlight the excellence of legal teams in supporting their clients through significant crises – and there has been no bigger national or international crisis in the past 12 months than the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The response of the NHS during the pandemic has been paramount in ensuring the welfare of patients and the wider public is maintained, and the firm worked in partnership with clients on the fast-emerging policy guidance and legal frameworks that were designed to put in place the provisions needed for the NHS’s response.

Nigel Montgomery, Head of Health at DAC Beachcroft added, “This global pandemic has put the health sector under enormous pressure and the NHS has coped incredibly well during such a challenging time. It has been a rewarding experience to support them in the fight against COVID-19, assisting them with making challenging decisions at pace against a backdrop of emerging, fast-changing guidance and legal frameworks.

“Our work as a key legal adviser is testament to the strength of our expertise across the full spectrum of legal advice, and our proud heritage in the health sector. We are delighted to have been recognised for our efforts by the British Legal Awards and would like to acknowledge the joint working efforts between our and our clients legal team, which made this possible, in these exceptional circumstances.”

Alistair Robertson and Charlotte Burnett led a number of teams across DAC Beachcroft’s health sector team to support our clients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including the firm’s Public Law, Commercial, Real Estate, Employment, Clinical Risk and Regulatory teams.

DAC Beachcroft is widely recognised as the leading strategic, commercial and regulatory legal adviser to the health and social care sector in the UK. Earlier this year, the firm was also awarded ‘Legal Services Provider of the Year’ at the HSJ Partnership awards for its work with Helpforce, working closely with them to design and manage a youth volunteering programme for both NHS hospitals and local schools.