Joanne Gallagher

Joanne is an experienced corporate Partner who leads the Corporate & Commercial team at Thomson Snell & Passmore. She has more than 20 years’ experience advising on all aspects of corporate / M&A transactions. This includes expertise in share and asset acquisitions and disposals, mergers, management buy-outs and buy-ins, investments, corporate structures and group reorganisations, venture capital and private equity transactions, joint ventures and shareholder agreements.

Joanne routinely undertakes complex, cross-border transactions in the corporate mid-market space. Her approach is to work collaboratively, to get the deal completed on time and on budget by taking a balanced, pragmatic commercial view to drive the transaction forward.

As an experienced corporate and M&A lawyer, she seeks to cultivate a close working relationship with clients, so that she can develop a thorough understanding of their commercial objectives and help them achieve these in the most efficient and effective way possible.

She also sits on the firm’s management board and is involved with developing our people and well-being strategies.

She supports a range of clients including private limited companies, owner managers, entrepreneurs/investors, AIM listed companies and UK subsidiaries of international businesses.
M&A - mergers, acquisitions & disposals
Private equity & venture finance
Exit & succession planning
Cross border transactions
Joint venture & shareholder agreements
Group reorganisations & demergers
Banking & finance
Employee ownership trusts.

Advising on the sale of a leading manufacturer and supplier of specialist pipe fittings and services to the UK water sector to Wolseley UK

Advising on the sale of a quantity surveying, dispute resolution and expert witness practice to an international specialist Socotec Group

Advising on the sale premium chilled desserts which was founded by a Michelin starred chef to an internationally based private equity-backed developer of food products

Acting for a £700+ million automotive group in relation to a buy and build growth strategy of motor dealerships in the UK, culminating in a sale of the group to a FTSE listed company

Acting for a UK Listed company on its acquisition of a UK-based design house specialising in semiconductors

Advising a financial services related company in relation to an acquisition

Advising a large £100 million+ turnover London construction services group in connection with a variety of acquisitions, culminating in an Employee Ownership Trust.

Achievements & other appointments

Joanne has been consistently top ranked as a leader in her field in Lower Mid-Market Corporate / M&A in the South by Chambers and Partners UK since 2011. She has also been recommended since 2013 and was recognised as one of the leading partners in the region for Corporate & Commercial in Legal 500 2025 edition.

She has received several nominations throughout her career. Winning Corporate Lawyer of the Year at the Insider Dealmakers Awards 2021 as well as been shortlisted at The Women, Influence & Power in Law UK Awards 2023 in the category of ‘Collaborative Leadership’.

Joanne led the team that worked on the transaction that won the Insider Dealmakers Deal of the Year (£10 m+) 2022 and also the team that won Corporate Law Firm of the Year 2022. She has also led the successful teams that won the Kent Corporate Finance Alliance Deal of the Year Awards in both 2019/20 and 2021/22.

Joanne Gallagher, Top Ranked Chambers 2025

Education

Joanne undertook a degree in Business Law LLB (Hons.) at a London University, where she studied Corporate Finance domestic and international. She then went onto undertake her professional exams at the College of Law in Chancery Lane, before starting her training contract at a regional practice. She qualified in 1994. Joanne became a partner in 2006, Head of the Corporate & Commercial team in 2017 and joined the Management Board in 2020.

Head of Corporate & Commercial

Specialisms & expertise

Examples of work