Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and CMS were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the UK in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised on 12 deals worth US$50.4bn, which was the highest among all the advisers. Meanwhile, CMS led in volume terms having advised on 34 deals worth US$1bn during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was the only advisor that managed to surpass the US$50bn mark during the COVID-19-hit H1. The firm’s involvement in two megadeals worth greater than or equal to US$10bn helped it outpace its peers by a great margin.

“On the other hand, while CMS was ahead of its peers in terms of volume, it lagged behind in value terms and surprisingly it failed to rank among the top ten advisers by value due to its involvement in low-value transactions.”

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied second position by value with three deals worth US$37.6bn, followed by Allen & Overy with 17 deals worth US$37.1bn. Allen & Overy also occupied second position by volume, followed by DLA Piper with 17 deals worth US$914.1m.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which topped the UK deals league table by value, stood at the topposition (by value) in GlobalData’s recently released global league table of top 20 M&A legal advisers. CMS, which topped the UK league table by volume, occupied ninth position (by volume) in the global league table.