Kirkland & Ellis has emerged as the foremost mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal adviser in terms of value and volume in North America for the first quarter of 2025, according to GlobalData’s latest legal advisers league table.
GlobalData ranks legal advisers by the value and volume of M&A deals on which they advised.
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According to GlobalData’s Deals Database, Kirkland & Ellis secured its top position by advising on 96 deals with a total value of $90bn during the first quarter of 2025.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the clear winner, outpacing its peers by a significant margin in terms of deal volume as well as value during Q1 2025. It just fell shy of hitting the triple-digit deal volume during Q1 2025. It is also interesting to note that Kirkland & Ellis was also the top adviser by volume in Q1 2024.
“Kirkland & Ellis also stayed much ahead of its peers in terms of value as well. It went ahead from occupying the fourth position by value in Q1 2024 to top the chart by this metric in Q1 2025 as there was a significant growth in the total value of deals advised by it driven by some big-ticket deals. During Q1 2025, it advised on 18 billion-dollar deals* that also included two mega deals valued more than $10bn. Its significance can be understood from the fact that these 18 deals collectively accounted for more than $83bn.”
In terms of value, Davis Polk & Wardwell ranked second, advising on deals worth $68.9bn, followed by Cravath Swaine & Moore with $57.6bn, Ropes & Gray with $56.3bn, and Debevoise & Plimpton with $44.9bn.
When considering the volume of deals, Latham & Watkins took the second spot with 56 transactions, followed by Ropes & Gray with 42 deals, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with 31 deals, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher also with 31 deals.
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.
