Kirkland & Ellis has been identified as the leading legal adviser in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the first half of 2025, according to the latest findings from GlobalData, a data and analytics firm.

The firm secured its top position by facilitating 225 transactions, which collectively amounted to $190.3bn in value.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Despite registering decline in deal volume as well as value during H1 2025 compared to H1 2024, Kirkland & Ellis not only managed to lead but also outpaced its peers by a significant margin across both the metrics. In fact, it was the only adviser that managed to advice on more than 200 deals during H1 2025 and just fell little short of hitting $200bn mark in total deal value.

“During H1 2025, Kirkland & Ellis advised on 35 billion-dollar deals*, which also included five mega deals valued more than $10bn. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Kirkland & Ellis to top the chart by value.”

In the rankings, Latham & Watkins followed in second place, advising on deals valued at $155.2bn.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz ranked third with $140.1bn, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison rounded out the top five with $131.1bn and $127bn, respectively.

In terms of deal volume, CMS held the second spot, having advised on 146 transactions.

Latham & Watkins was next with 137 deals, followed by White & Case with 116 and A&O Shearman with 95.

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.

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