Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in North America in H1 2023, according to GlobalData’s latest league table.
The leading data and analytics company ranks advisers by the value and volume of M&A deals on which they advised.
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According to its financial deals database, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was the leading legal adviser in terms of value by advising on $147.8bn worth of deals. Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms by advising on a total of 257 deals.
“Most of the top 10 advisers by value registered a decline in the total value of deals they advised on as challenging market conditions dented deal-making sentiments,” said GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose. “However, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison emerged as a notable exception to this trend, as its total deal value almost doubled compared to $76.6bn in H1 2022.
“Resultantly, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison’s ranking by value also improved significantly and it went ahead from occupying the 12th position in H1 2022 to top the chart in H1 2023. The firm advised on 24 billion-dollar deals [deals valued at $1bn or more], which also included five mega deals valued more than $10bn.
“Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis emerged as the clear winner by volume, as it was the only firm that managed to advise on more than 200 deals during H1 2023, thereby outpacing its peers by a significant margin. It also managed to advise on several big-ticket deals, which helped it occupy the second position by value as well. Kirkland & Ellis managed to advise on three mega deals valued more than $10bn.”
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By GlobalDataLatham & Watkins came third in terms of value, by advising on $128.5bn worth of deals, followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, with $125.5bn, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, with $119.9bn.
Runners-up in terms of volume were Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with 139 deals, followed by Latham & Watkins with 112 deals, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin with 100 deals, and Jones Day with 82 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.
