White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the oil & gas sector in 2023 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 reveals that White & Case achieved its leading position in terms of value by advising on $96.5 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 48 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Both White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis witnessed improvements in respective ranking by value and volume in 2023. While White & Case went ahead from occupying the fourth position by value in 2022 to top the chart in 2023, Kirkland & Ellis improved its ranking by volume from second position in 2022 to the top spot in 2023.

“Kirkland & Ellis also witnessed marginal improvement in terms of deal volume whereas White & Case recorded around a three-fold jump in the total value of deals advised by it in 2023 compared to 2022. This jump was primarily driven by some the high-value transactions White & Case advised on. It advised eight billion-dollar deals* in 2023 that also includes a deal valued more than $50 billion.”

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $91.9 billion worth of deals, followed by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher with $82.1 billion, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson with $72.9 billion and Davis Polk & Wardwell with $72.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Vinson & Elkins occupied the second position in terms of volume with 41 deals, followed by White & Case with 21 deals, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher with 21 deals and Latham & Watkins with 21 deals.

*Deals valued more than or equal to $1 billion