Kirkland & Ellis has emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal adviser for Q1-Q3 2023 in terms of both value and volume in the latest Legal Advisers League Table by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that Kirkland & Ellis achieved the leading position by advising on 355 deals worth $264.3 billion.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the clear winner outpacing its peers by a significant margin in terms of volume as well as value during Q1-Q3 2023. It was the only firm to advise on more than 300 deals during Q1-Q3 2023. Moreover, it was also among the only two advisers with total deal value surpassing $200 billion during the same period. In terms of value ranking, Kirkland & Ellis was followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which occupied the second position by advising on $205.7 billion worth of deals.

“Kirkland & Ellis advised on 61 billion-dollar deals*, which also included five mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these high-value transactions helped Kirkland & Ellis top the chart by value as well.”

Latham & Watkins occupied the third position in terms of value, by advising on $191.5 billion worth of deals followed by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz with $169.8 billion, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison with $159.3 billion.

Meanwhile, CMS occupied the second position in terms of volume by advising on 193 deals followed by White & Case with 187 deals, Latham & Watkins with 163 deals, and Baker McKenzie with 155 deals.

*Deals valued more than or equal to $1 billion.