Gail Slater
Irish-American lawyer and political advisor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
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) |
Early life
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
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]