Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the technology, media and telecom sector during 2024 by value and volume, respectively, according to the latest legal advisers league table by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database revealed that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom achieved the leading position in terms of value by advising on $123.5 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 160 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by volume in 2023 and registered a 29% year-on-growth in the number of deals advised in 2024. In fact, it was the only adviser with triple-digit deal volume during the year. Apart from leading by volume, Kirkland & Ellis also held the third position by value.

“Meanwhile, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was among the only two advisers that managed to surpass $100 billion mark in total deal value in 2024. Even though the number of deals advised by it mostly remained unchanged, it registered a massive growth in the total value of deals advised by it in 2024 compared to the previous year. This can also be understood from that fact that the average size of deals advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which stood at $1.9 billion in 2023, jumped to around $3 billion in 2024. Resultantly, it went ahead from occupying the third position by value in 2023 to top the chart by this metric in 2024.”

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $115.8 billion worth of deals, followed by Kirkland & Ellis with $92.3 billion, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with $82 billion and Latham & Watkins with $58.7 billion.

Meanwhile, CMS occupied the second position in terms of volume with 90 deals, followed by Latham & Watkins with 63 deals, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with 62 deals and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with 61 deals.