Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis have emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers by value and volume during 2025 in the latest Legal Advisers League Table by GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that Latham & Watkins achieved the leading position in terms of the deal value by advising on $740.4 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 537 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser in 2024 by volume and managed to retain its leadership position in 2025 as well but faced close competition from Latham & Watkins. Both the law firms were the only two advisers with more than 500 deals during 2025. While Kirkland & Ellis led with 537 deals, Latham & Watkins followed closely to occupy the second spot with 526 deals.

“Of the 526 deals advised by Latham & Watkins during 2025, 108 were billion-dollar deals* that also included 17 mega deals valued at or more than $10 billion. The involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Latham & Watkins top the table by value in 2025.”

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz occupied the second position in terms of value by advising on $711 billion worth of deals, followed by Kirkland & Ellis with $633.5 billion, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $627.5 billion and Sullivan & Cromwell with $490.3 billion.

Meanwhile, CMS occupied the third position in terms of volume by advising on 348 deals followed by DLA Piper with 316 deals, and White & Case with 290 deals.

*Deals valued ≥ $1 billion