Kirkland & Ellis was the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal adviser in the oil & gas sector during 2024 by both value and volume, according to the latest legal advisers league table by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database has revealed that Kirkland & Ellis achieved the leading position by advising on 45 deals worth $91.5 billion.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by volume in 2023 and also retained its leadership position by this metric in 2024 as well. Though the number of deals advised by it mostly remained at the same level in 2024 compared to 2023, there was a significant jump in terms of value due to involvement in many big-ticket deals.

“During the year, Kirkland & Ellis advised on 21 billion-dollar deals* that also included two mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Resultantly, its ranking by value also took a leap from the 10^th position in 2023 to the top position in 2024.”

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $72.2 billion worth of deals, followed by Vinson & Elkins with $65.8 billion, Latham & Watkins with $44.2 billion, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison with $36 billion.

Meanwhile, Vinson & Elkins occupied the second position in terms of volume with 35 deals, followed by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher with 24 deals, Latham & Watkins with 22 deals, and White & Case with 20 deals.

*Valued more than or equal to $1 billion