Former Trump Antitrust Chief Gail Slater to Join White & Case

Slater is set to begin working at White & Case in October, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the plans who requested anonymity because the appointment had not yet been publicly announced. White & Case declined to comment to Bloomberg on the move.

Her move into private practice follows a turbulent period at the Justice Department, where disagreements over the direction of federal merger enforcement preceded her departure.

Slater was removed from the government in February following tensions with senior Justice Department officials over antitrust and merger policy, according to Bloomberg. The disputes came as companies and their advisers increasingly sought intervention from senior administration officials in major antitrust matters.

Slater had taken charge of the Antitrust Division after winning Senate confirmation in March 2025 by a 78-19 vote. Her appointment initially suggested that the second Trump administration could retain elements of the more aggressive approach to competition enforcement that had developed during the Biden administration, Bloomberg previously reported.

Her tenure ultimately became marked by internal disputes over how the government should handle large corporate transactions.

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One prominent disagreement involved Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks Inc. Justice Department officials reached a settlement allowing that transaction to proceed after the government had initially sued to block it. The episode resulted in the dismissal of two senior officials who worked under Slater and later became the subject of court proceedings examining the government’s handling of the settlement, according to Bloomberg.

Another dispute centered on the combination of Compass Inc. and Anywhere Real Estate Inc. Bloomberg reported that Slater and career antitrust lawyers favored a more extensive review of the transaction, while higher-ranking Justice Department officials took a different approach.

Since leaving the Justice Department, Slater has worked with American Compass, a conservative research and advocacy organization, Bloomberg reported.

Her expected arrival at White & Case would add a former senior federal competition official to a firm with a substantial mergers-and-acquisitions practice at a time when regulatory and political considerations are playing an increasingly important role in major transactions.

White & Case reported $3.6 billion in revenue for 2025, an increase of more than 8% from the prior year, according to figures reported by Bloomberg Law. The firm has been expanding its U.S. operations as part of a broader strategy aimed at reaching $5 billion in annual revenue by 2028.

The firm has also emphasized advising companies on the political and regulatory risks surrounding transactions. Michael Deyong, co-head of its mergers-and-acquisitions practice, recently told Bloomberg Law that such considerations are increasingly being evaluated before companies choose bidders or settle on transaction structures.

Slater’s anticipated move therefore places a former government antitrust official inside a firm advising corporations at a time when merger reviews are increasingly shaped by the intersection of competition law, regulatory policy and Washington politics.

Source: Bloomberg News