Background, qualifications and experience
Lee was born and raised in Truro and returned to Cornwall after completing an LLB degree in Law at Bournemouth University. Lee also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.
Lee first joined Nalders in 2009, for a year-long work placement during his degree, and has been with the firm ever since. Lee is a Solicitor in our Business Department and specialises in corporate, commercial, charity and employment law.
Having trained in the Business Department and then practised in this area as a qualified solicitor for over 9 years, Lee is highly experienced.
Corporate and Commercial
Lee is an expert in all aspects of business law, from buying and selling a business, to starting a new venture from scratch.
Lee provides clear, practical and commercially-minded advice to sole traders, partnerships and companies on a variety of areas, including:
- Share or asset sales or purchases
- Terms and Conditions
- Supply of Goods and/or Services Contracts
- Directors duties
- Shareholders rights
- Intellectual Property
- Data Protection
- Confidentiality (or “Non-disclosure”) agreements
- Closing a company or liquidation
- Advising on Personal Guarantees
Charity
Lee is highly experienced in charitable law and works with a number of charities; ranging from small charitable trusts to large charitable companies and Charitable Incorporated Organisations.
Lee can advise in respect of charities’ general legal obligations and ensure ‘best practice’ is followed at all times. This advice and assistance provides comfort to trustees that not only are they complying with their own obligations, but also that the charity is being governed effectively and in compliance with the many stringent rules and regulations that apply to charities.
Most crucially of all, Lee’s input ensures that the charity trustees can focus as much of their attention as possible on their charitable aims.
Lee can provide advice and assistance on all manner of issues affecting charities, including:
- Trustees duties
- Formation of a new charity
- Moving to an incorporated structure
- Appointment and retirement of trustees
- Merger or closure of a charity
- Transfer of a charity’s assets
- Employing staff
Employment and HR
Lee has vast experience of advising on and seeking to resolve disputes between employees and employers, whether before those disputes reach the Employment Tribunal or once Tribunal proceedings are underway. Lee has helped many employers defend, and many employees successfully resolve, Employment Tribunal claims - from unfair dismissal to complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims.
As part of the Business Department, Lee also works closely with businesses to ensure they are informed of and comfortable with their obligations in respect of employment law and overall HR practices. Lee’s advice ensures that day-to-day issues are well-managed, which helps reduce the risk that they escalate into a prolonged or serious problem or, worse, a Tribunal claim.
Lee can help with all manner of employment issues including:
- Redundancy
- Disciplinaries
- Grievances
- Unsatisfactory performance
- Sickness absence
- Data protection
- Settlement Agreements or other negotiated exits
- Restrictive covenants or post-termination restraints
Career highlights
Lee’s personal highlights include:
- Working closely with a globally renowned organisation on an ongoing basis in relation to the provision of their services to their own renowned clients, including: numerous supply of services and sub-contractor agreements; a number of joint ventures; consultancy contracts, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and advising on complex issues involving intellectual property and data protection.
- A number of standout successes for employees, including: reaching a successful conclusion for an employee involved in claims of whistleblowing and constructive unfair dismissal; successfully resolving a matter involving discrimination on the grounds of an employee’s sexual orientation; achieving a positive outcome for an individual pursuing a claim of disability discrimination; and, helping an employee to overturn their dismissal through an internal appeal and then negotiating terms for a mutually agreed departure.
- Advising an employer on a large-scale and complex restructure.
- Helping a particular prospective charity pursue their goal of making a difference to their beneficiaries by getting their charity up and running.
Outside the office
Outside of work, Lee enjoys getting out and about on the Cornish coast as much as possible.
Lee is a fan of pretty much all sport, and is a big Leeds United fan.
Qualifications & Experience
I have a LLB in Law and a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.
I have 10 years’ experience in employment tribunal matters.
My work in this area is supervised by Dale Band.
Thank you so much Lee. I've appreciated all your support and efficiency. I will recommend your services to anyone I know in need of a solicitor. - SR, April 2026
I just wanted to say thank you again for all of your help, I couldn't have wished for a better person to support me through this tough time and the results have been better than I expected. - January 2026
Thanks so much Lee, you are an absolute superstar and we really appreciate your support. - July 2025
Thank you so much for your guidance and assistance in this matter. Nalders and yourself have been exceptional. I hugely appreciate it. - July 2025
Thank you for your support and professionalism throughout this process. - July 2025
Thank you so much for your very prompt attention and kindness. Will thoroughly recommend you and Nalders going forward. - July 2024
Nalders and in particular, Lee Middleton were extremely professional from start to finish. He instantly instilled me with confidence that I had chosen the right firm to represent me. I could not recommend them highly enough. – Mr B Jones – November 2023
Thank you so much. Your guidance and advice has made a difficult situation a lot less stressful and gives me further confidence that my medical negligence claim is in the right hands with Nalders and Veryan… – November 2023
Thank you for producing such a thorough report and giving the matter such consideration. I have worked with solicitors in the past, re rights of way matters etc and I can honestly say you have been the most helpful, straightforward and thorough to deal with,… - November 2023
Sublime. Having worked in business many years, I was highly impressed with Lee's astute grasp on Employment Law. - Mr J O'Malley - September 2023
Consummate professional, effortless experience from start to finish, clear explanations, kind, supportive and good sense of humour. An absolutely credit to the team. - MR - July 2023
Thank you Lee, you've been superb... - June 2023
...I have valued your professional support and efficiency in dealing with this matter. Would certainly recommend your services. - May 2023
thank you again so much for helping me through an extremely difficult time. You came to grips with this complex matter quickly and managed to state my case so clearly and succinctly and I am ever so grateful for your support and understanding. - April 2023
Thank you both for all your hard work and support and advice and making the process as smooth as possible for us. - February 2023
Once again many thanks for your and Edward’s work. - January 2023
Despite the circumstances it has been a pleasure working with you. You really are very human and I felt very supported and at ease. - January 2023
Thank you for all the help and support you have given us and [company name] this year. - January 2023
Nalders provided a fee proposal quickly and communicated clearly and professionally, making what was a difficult time, a lot easier. Queries were dealt with efficiently, legal complexities handled astutely and overall the way in which the matter was resolved inspired confidence - October 2020
Lee was very professional, knowledgeable and kind. He took time to understand not only the situation with my employment, but also me as a person. He took time to ensure that he worked with me in a way I was comfortable with. He involved me in the process. He was very honest about my situation - did not give me false hope. It was great that I felt we worked together on this. - LQ - August 2020
I thought I would send you an email to let you know how pleased I was with the service I received from your company. I have recently had to part company with my business partner and required a Share Purchase Agreement. I was allocated Lee Middleton from your company, from the first time we spoke he was fully aware of what was required he would allow me to discuss my views and what I wished to achieve he would then advise me from a legal aspect of the best way to deal with the issues arising but still getting the end result I was asking for. I found him very responsive, always returned emails and calls in a timely matter. I personally found him a pleasure to work with through these difficult times and I feel this needs to be recognised. Could you kindly pass on this email to him as I believe without his guidance and support I would not have achieved the result I did. L Sheldon, August 2020
Lee was absolutely fantastic for every step of the process. He showed empathy and kindness, and his entire demeanour put me at ease so that I was able to open up and talk to him. I felt comfortable asking questions, and he answered all my questions clearly and promptly. The whole situation was under time pressure, and he was available, even for requests that had an extremely short timeframe. I cannot thank him enough for all his help! - November 2019
Please let Lee Middleton know that he provided a first class service at a very stressful time to me. He will be highly recommended to others. The outcome was TOPS. Thanks to Lee, very professional service.
Thank you for all your hard work and support. Your amiable personality has helped enormously through a very difficult time.
Thank you so very much for all your help and support over this past 10 months. Your professionalism and support have been truly wonderful and I will not hesitate to recommend you to everyone!
I would like to take this opportunity to say how excellent lee has been through this process and he has the makings of a fantastic solicitor. I would also like to thank you for your expert advice and for taking the time to explain to me the contents of the settlement agreement.
Lee has been so supportive.
Thank you very much for your expertise and help with this settlement. I'm a very impressed client of Nalders. I'm more than happy to recommend the firm to others.
Thanks too for such a friendly, quick and efficient service. Having it all wrapped up within the 1 day was more than I expected!
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and the rest of the Nalders team for the continued excellent advice we receive, quick support and your helpful and thorough information regarding the coronavirus issues we are all facing.
I would just like to thank you for your efficient service and support at this difficult time for me.
I highly recommend Lee to you if you have any legal employment issues. I found him and his expertise extremely supportive at an difficult time for me. He is reliable, knowledgeable, approachable and very efficient hence my recommendation