Kirkland & Ellis and CMS topped the legal advisers rankings for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Europe during the first quarter of 2025, according to the latest financial advisers league table published by GlobalData.
According to GlobalData’s Deals Database, Kirkland & Ellis secured the top position by deal value, advising on transactions valued at $16.9bn.
CMS led in terms of deal volume, having advised on 48 transactions during the period.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom ranked second by value, handling deals worth $13.7bn.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer followed with $11.2bn, Arthur Cox with $9.8bn, and Gilbert + Tobin with $8.8bn.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Despite a decline in the number of deals advised by CMS in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024, it managed to maintain its lead and remain much ahead of its peers in terms of deal volume. In fact, it fell short of only two deals from hitting the 50-deal volume mark during Q1 2025.
“Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis registered more than a double-fold jump in the total value of deals advised by it during Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. Resultantly, its ranking by value also took a leap from 13th position in Q1 2024 to the top position in Q1 2025. Involvement in three billion-dollar deals during the quarter played a pivotal role for Kirkland & Ellis in registering the massive growth in value as well as improvement in its ranking by this metric.”
White & Case was ranked second by deal volume with 26 deals, followed by Cuatrecasas with 23, Allen & Overy with 19, and Clifford Chance with 16.
The rankings are based on deals valued at $1bn or more, as recorded in GlobalData’s Deals Database.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
