Kirkland & Ellis leads M&A legal advisers in first nine months of 2026
Kirkland & Ellis ranked first among M&A legal advisers by both deal value and volume in the first three quarters (Q1-Q3) of 2026, according to GlobalData’s latest Legal Advisers League Table.
The firm advised on 410 transactions worth a combined $515.7bn between January and September, based on data from GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison ranked second by value, with deals worth $441.3bn.
Sullivan & Cromwell followed at $407bn, while Latham & Watkins and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom recorded $362.4bn and $289bn, respectively.
Latham & Watkins ranked second by volume after advising on 375 deals.
DLA Piper handled 219 deals, followed by White & Case with 209 and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher with 165.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by volume during Q1-Q3 2025 and continued to maintain its dominance in volume ranking chart during Q1-Q3 2026 as well. Moreover, its ranking by value improved from third to the top spot.
“While the total number of deals advised by Kirkland & Ellis remained the same during Q1-Q3 2026 compared to Q1-Q3 2025, there was a 25.1% growth in total deal value. During Q1-Q3 2026, it advised on 72 billion-dollar deals that also included eight mega deals valued more than $10bn. The involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Kirkland & Ellis register the jump in terms of value and secure the top spot by this metric.”
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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