Promoted to partner in 2020, Slaughter and May’s Claire Jackson made a name for herself last year advising on GSK’s giant separation of its consumer healthcare business Haleon and its subsequent listing on both the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. The deal was one of the largest of its kind in Europe, dragging on for three years, with Jackson spearheading the gruelling process.
Jackson is seen by many in the City as a ‘high street hero’, recently counselling ASOS on its move from the Alternative Investment Market to a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange’s main market. She also advised Next on the hotly contested auction to buy clothes store Joules out of administration, saving hundreds of jobs and keeping the UK’s retail sector competitive.
Apart from being a dealmaker, Jackson is passionate about social mobility and is a sponsor partner at Slaughters, helping to benchmark the firm’s targets for promoting female partners. Serving as a mentor to younger lawyers, she takes part in an external mentoring programme called upReach that seeks to boost mobility in lower socioeconomic backgrounds.