Gail Slater
Gail Slater | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division | |
| In office March 12, 2025 – February 12, 2026 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Jonathan Kanter |
| Succeeded by | Omeed Assefi (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Abigail Conlon December 10, 1971 |
| Party | Republican |
| Education | University College Dublin (BCL, LLM) St Hilda's College, Oxford (MJur) College of Law, Guildford (LPC) |
Abigail Slater (née Conlon; born December 10, 1971)[1][2] is an Irish-born American lawyer and political advisor who served as the assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division from March 2025 to February 2026.
Early life
[edit]Slater is from Dalkey, Dublin, in Ireland.[2] She earned law a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1993 (with a year abroad at the University of Würzburg) and a Master of Laws in 1996 from University College Dublin, a Master of Jurisprudence from St Hilda's College, Oxford in 1995, and her Legal Practice Course from the College of Law, Guildford in 1997.[3][4] She moved to the U.S. in 2003 and holds dual citizenship.[5][6][1]
Career
[edit]Slater started her career with the British law firm Freshfields (now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer).[3] She focused on antitrust cases and was often sent to the U.S. as a liaison.[3] She met her future husband, Lindsay Slater, on one of her trips to the U.S. and later moved there, leaving her job at Freshfields to become a staff attorney for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2004.[3][7] At the FTC, she worked on several cases to block major mergers, including one in which Whole Foods Market was attempting to acquire Wild Oats Markets, as well as a case involving the pharmaceutical company Cephalon.[3] In 2011, she became the FTC attorney advisor to commissioner Julie Brill.[2][7]
Slater left the FTC in 2014, to become the vice-president for legal and regulatory policy for the Internet Association, a lobbying group, later becoming general counsel.[3] After four years there, she was appointed in February 2018 to the administration of President Donald Trump as special assistant to the president for technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity.[8] After a year in the Trump administration, Slater left to become the senior vice president for policy and strategy at Fox Corporation.[9] She later became a vice president and deputy general counsel for Roku, Inc.[10]
In 2024, Slater became a policy advisor for vice presidential candidate and later Vice President-elect JD Vance.[11] When Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Slater became an advisor for his transition team on antitrust policy.[12] On December 4, 2024, Trump nominated her to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.[11] On March 11, 2025, she was confirmed by the Senate, 78-19.[13] She announced her immediate resignation on February 12, 2026.[14]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Questionnaire for non-judicial nominees" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2025.
- 1 2 3 Burke-Kennedy, Eoin (November 13, 2024). "Irish woman in line for top White House role under Donald Trump". The Irish Times.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Whyte, Barry J. (May 5, 2019). "Profile of Gail Slater: Fox's Irish gamekeeper". Business Post. Retrieved December 15, 2024 – via archive.ph.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "Biographies of Participants" (PDF). Federal Trade Commission. pp. 10–11.
- ↑ "UCD Law Alumna appointed to White House role". University College Dublin. 2018.
- ↑ "St Hilda's College - Report and Chronicle 2012 – 2013" (PDF). www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk.
- 1 2 "Gail Slater". LegiStorm.
- ↑ Neidig, Harper (April 25, 2019). "Trump tech adviser joins Fox Corp". The Hill.
- ↑ Lynch, Suzanne (April 28, 2019). "Dublin woman Gail Slater leaves senior White House role". The Irish Times.
- ↑ Fung, Brian; Buchwald, Elisabeth (December 4, 2024). "Trump taps crypto enthusiast Paul Atkins to lead the SEC and Gail Slater as the new tech antitrust cop". CNN.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - 1 2 King, Cecilia (December 4, 2024). "Trump to Nominate Gail Slater to Head Justice Department's Antitrust Efforts". The New York Times.
- ↑ Nylen, Leah; Sisco, Josh (November 11, 2024). "Irish woman in line for top role in Donald Trump's administration". Irish Examiner. Retrieved December 4, 2024 – via archive.ph.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ McCabe, David (March 11, 2025). "Senate Confirms Gail Slater as Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Lead". The New York Times.
- ↑ Kopack, Steve; Arkin, Daniel (February 12, 2026). "Justice Department's antitrust chief says she's leaving, effective immediately". NBC News.
External links
[edit]- 1971 births
- Living people
- People from Dalkey
- 21st-century Irish lawyers
- 21st-century American lawyers
- Antitrust lawyers
- Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford
- Alumni of University College Dublin
- Federal Trade Commission personnel
- First Trump administration personnel
- Second Trump administration personnel
- United States assistant attorneys general for the Antitrust Division
- Irish emigrants to the United States