About

Team size: 60
Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lewis Silkin, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons, PwC Legal

‘She has shown good leadership and has got the team working well with a lot of focus on what the business requires of them,’ comments Linklaters partner Tom Cassels of Visa Europe chief officer, legal and regulatory, Emma Slatter. ‘There is a clarity to her leadership, which is very impressive. Visa is very focused on values.’

The well-regarded Slatter, Deutsche Bank’s former head of strategy, replaced Niamh Grogan at Visa in early 2017. She leads a team of lawyers advising the UK and European offices on all aspects of their business.

Slatter spent more than 20 years at Deutsche in various roles, culminating in the global head of strategy role. Before that she was UK regional GC, leading a team of 150. In May 2016, however, she was reported to have left the bank to form her own consultancy advising on a range of business ventures. She arrived at Visa Europe shortly after it was acquired by US company Visa in a deal worth €21.2bn. Macfarlanes and US firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz advised Visa on the transaction, while Linklaters offered counsel to Visa Europe.

More recently in mid-2018, a host of British retailers won a Court of Appeal ruling against Visa and Mastercard in the high-profile interchange fees case. The case concerned charges made by the card issuers on payments by debit or credit cards in store or online. Sainsbury’s, Asda, Argos and Morrisons sued the card companies, alleging the fees were an unlawful restriction of competition based on EU law.