Nicola Strefford

Nicola is an Associate and Head of Employment at Clapham & Collinge. She qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive in 2012 and has extensive experience advising individuals, businesses and organisations across employment law, commercial matters and dispute resolution.

Nicola heads the firm’s Employment team and advises employers and employees on the full range of workplace issues, including employment contracts and policies, disciplinary and grievance matters, performance and absence management, discrimination, redundancy and restructuring, settlement agreements, dismissals and Employment Tribunal proceedings.

Her practice also extends beyond employment law into commercial and corporate matters. Nicola advises businesses on commercial contracts and transactions, including the drafting and negotiation of asset purchase agreements and the associated employment and TUPE implications of business transfers. She also assists with company incorporations and registrations and provides practical advice to businesses on contractual issues as they arise.

Nicola has a broad dispute-resolution practice and acts in general litigation and contractual disputes, advising clients from the early stages of a dispute through pre-action correspondence, negotiation and, where necessary, court proceedings. She has significant experience of resolving disputes commercially and proportionately and is accustomed to identifying the practical as well as the legal issues involved.

Nicola also undertakes work for charities and charitable organisations, including advising on governance and transactional issues and dealing with applications to the Charity Commission.

Nicola has substantial advocacy and dispute-resolution experience, having undertaken advocacy in the Employment Tribunal, Magistrates’ Court and County Court and attended the Employment Appeal Tribunal in reported cases. She is also experienced in private and judicial mediation and pre-action negotiations.

Her approach is practical, straightforward and commercially focused. Nicola takes time to understand what her clients are ultimately seeking to achieve and gives clear advice on the legal position, the risks involved and the most proportionate route to an outcome. Her previous experience working within Norfolk County Council, together with almost a decade heading the Employment team at Clapham & Collinge, has given her a strong appreciation of the commercial, financial and practical considerations which often sit behind a legal problem.

Clients particularly value Nicola’s personable and pragmatic approach and her ability to make complex or difficult situations easier to navigate.

Areas of expertise

• Employment law for employers and employees
• Employment Tribunal litigation
• Discrimination and workplace disputes
• Settlement agreements
• TUPE and business transfers
• Commercial contracts
• Asset purchase agreements
• Contractual and commercial disputes
• General litigation and dispute resolution
• Company incorporations and registrations
• Charity and Charity Commission matters
• Negotiation and mediation