Valerie Ford Jacob

Practice Areas

Valerie has been a leader in the capital markets practice for decades.

Valerie focuses on capital raising, including both debt and equity in the public and private markets, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other business transactions. She also counsels corporations and special committees on corporate governance, securities regulation and investigations.

Valerie was co-head of our global financial institutions sector group for over 7 years. She is a frequent contributor to legal and other periodicals on securities laws and financing topics. She is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, IFLR1000, Legal 500 and Best Lawyers.

Valerie has been described by clients as “a legend in the business.” She was named Finance Lawyer of the Year at Chambers USA’s 2012 Women in Law Awards. Valerie co-led the Freshfields team that was honored as Transatlantic Private Equity Team of the Year by Legal Week and The American Lawyer for its cross-border work advising Formula One (F1) and CVC Capital Partners on the sale of F1 to Liberty Media. She was named to the Law Dragon 500 Hall of Fame in 2017. She was also honored as a Woman Worth Watching in the 2016 issue of Profiles in Diversity Journal and the 2017 Expert Guide to Women in Business Law, a peer-ranked list of female experts in various divisions of business law. In 2020 and again in 2021, she was listed as one of the top Capital Markets practitioners in the United States by Euromoney’s Women in Business Expert Guide. She was awarded a "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2021 by Corporate Counsel - Women, Influence & Power in Law, and "A Dealmaker of the Year" in 2022 by The American Lawyer. She was shortlisted as “Equity Capital Markets Lawyer of the Year” by Euromoney's Americas Women in Business Law Awards, 2022.

She also is a member of The Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only membership organization of the world’s most successful women business leaders.

Before joining Freshfields, Valerie was the Chairperson at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.