Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the South & Central American region during the first half (H1) of 2025 by value and volume, respectively, according to the latest legal advisers league table by GlobalData, which ranks legal advisers by the value and volume of M&A deals on which they advised.

Based on its Deals Database, the leading data and analytics company has revealed that Kirkland & Ellis achieved its leading position in terms of value by advising on $9 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom led in terms of volume by advising on a total of five deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom registered an improvement in the number of deals advised by it during H1 2025 compared to H1 2024. Resultantly, its ranking by volume also improved from the seventh position in H1 2024 to the top position in H1 2025.

“Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis registered about seven-fold jump in the total value of deals advised by it during H1 2025 compared to H1 2024. As a result, it went ahead from occupying the 10^th position by value in H1 2024 to top the chart by this metric in H1 2025.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $6.4 billion worth of deals, followed by Mayer Brown with $3.4 billion, Bruchou & Funes de Rioja with $1.5 billion and Clifford Chance with $1.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Mayer Brown occupied the second position in terms of volume with four deals, followed by Tauil & Chequer Advogados with three deals, Bruchou & Funes de Rioja with two deals and Cassels Brock & Blackwell with two deals.