Andrea Paxton is a Director at Cleveland & Co with over 20 years of experience advising on the full range of employment law matters. She acts for employers and individuals alike, providing calm, clear, and pragmatic guidance across both advisory and contentious issues. Known for her ability to instil confidence and relieve pressure in complex situations, Andrea partners closely with clients to deliver legally sound, commercially attuned outcomes.
Andrea trained and practised for over a decade at Pinsent Masons LLP, a leading national law firm, where she developed deep expertise supporting clients across sectors through major transitions and day-to-day employment matters. Her focus areas include redundancy and restructuring, employment status and IR35, settlement agreements, and Employment Tribunal litigation, as well as contractual and policy advisory.
In addition to her advisory practice, Andrea has extensive experience managing the employment aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and business sales, and regularly leads employment-related due diligence processes. Her cross-sector insight, combined with a practical, people-first mindset, makes her a trusted partner to startups, scaling businesses, and established corporates navigating change.
Andrea’s approach reflects Cleveland & Co’s values of integrity, empathy, clarity, and technical excellence. Clients describe her as professional, reassuring, and solution-oriented, with an ability to put people at ease while tackling difficult legal issues with care and precision. She is recommended in The Legal 500, which notes her ability to “take away a lot of [her clients’] worries and stresses.”
Her key areas of expertise include employment status (including IR35), redundancies, settlement agreements, contractual reviews, employee relations, and Employment Tribunal claims.
When she’s not supporting clients, Andrea enjoys playing hockey, spending quality time with family, and keeping her sense of humour well-exercised, both on and off the pitch.
Andrea is listed as a leading employment lawyer in the Legal 500 directory which states that Andrea “takes away a lot of [her clients’] worries and stresses” and that “she is extremely professional yet puts [her clients] totally at ease’.
Andrea has particular expertise in advising on:
- Collective Redundancies
- Complex grievances
- Contentious and non-contentious employment issues
- Disciplinary matters
- Discrimination claims
- Employee Handbooks
- Employment agreements
- Employment law aspects of business sales, mergers, and acquisitions
- Employment Law Training
- Employment policies
- Employment related due diligence
- Employment status (including IR35 advice)
- Employment tribunal litigation
- Exit packages
- Grievances
- Injunctions
- Investigations
- Redundancy processes
- Restrictive covenants
- Settlement agreements
- Strategic exists
- Strategic exits.
- TUPE
- Whistleblowing
Andrea is listed as a leading employment lawyer in the Legal 500 directory.
- Law Society of England and Wales
- Leading lawyer in Legal 500
- LLB Law (Hons) – The University of Birmingham
- Qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales
- English
Andrea Paxton has over 16 years’ experience, having previously trained and worked for 11 years with national law firm Pinsent Masons LLP. Andrea acts for companies of all sizes as well as individuals and has considerable experience of carrying out due diligence and advising on employment law issues in relation to business sales and acquisitions.
Andrea has particular expertise in advising on redundancies, employment status (including IR35 advice to contractors), employment tribunal claims and settlement agreements.
Andrea is listed as a leading employment lawyer in the Legal 500 directory which states that Andrea “takes away a lot of [her clients’] worries and stresses” and that “she is extremely professional yet puts [her clients] totally at ease’.
LLB Law (Hons) – The University of Birmingham
