Top Big Law Firm Rankings
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom received the top global M&A legal advisor in the first quarter of the year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
The value of deals surged by over a third compared to the same period last year, despite a decrease in activity to a nine-year low.
The LSEG report indicated that despite the decline in deal volume, the value of global M&A deals experienced a significant increase of 38 percent to $797.6 billion in the first quarter compared to the previous year.
The Big Law M&A Player
Skadden has always been a major M&A player globally and played a pivotal role in 45 deals totaling $150 billion, including representing Ansys in its $35 billion sale to Synopsys and Juniper Networks in its $14 billion sale to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), securing the firm’s position at the top of the rankings.
The firm sits at No. 5 on LawFuel’s ‘Most Prestigious Law Firm List’.
This marks a significant rise from its second-place finish in the same period last year, eventually dropping to sixth place in the final rankings.
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz closely followed in second place, handling deals worth nearly $147.9 billion, including advising HPE on the Juniper deal and Capital One on its $35.3 billion acquisition of Discover.
Paul Weiss secured the third spot, working on 33 deals valued at almost $147.8 billion, including representing Endeavour Energy Partners in its $26 billion sale to Diamondback Energy.
Davis Polk & Wardwell and Sullivan & Cromwell, both top contenders in the LawFuel Prestige List, rounded out the top five for the first quarter, with deals totaling $93 billion and $88 billion, respectively. Kirkland & Ellis, last year’s leading firm, ranked eighth in the opening quarter, advising on $80 billion worth of deals.
The surge in deal ranking was primarily driven by a resurgence in mega-deals, with transactions worth at least $10 billion more than doubling to $278 billion, marking the strongest opening quarter for such deals since 2019.
The US-targeted market particularly contributed to this trend, experiencing a 61 percent jump to a 35-year high of $485 billion. Energy and power deals led the sector, accounting for 18% of overall deals at $145.7 billion, an 80 percent increase from 2023 levels.
In the UK, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer claimed the top spot among UK firms, ranking 14th and working on 43 deals totaling nearly $41 billion.
Other non-US based big law firms in the top 25 included Linklaters (18th), Herbert Smith Freehills (21st), and Slaughter and May (24th).
Meanwhile, Goodwin Procter led the league table rankings by deal volume, with 161 deals worth $60 billion. Kirkland followed closely with 151 deals, and Latham & Watkins secured third place with 129 deals valued at almost $85 billion.
