Sullivan & Cromwell, Kirkland & Ellis lead Q1 2026 financial services M&A legal adviser rankings

Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis headed the rankings for legal advisers on financial services mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter of 2026, according to GlobalData’s latest league table.

Figures from GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database show Sullivan & Cromwell took the top spot by deal value, having worked on transactions totalling $20.7bn. Kirkland & Ellis was the leading firm by number of deals, with 15 mandates.

In the value ranking, White & Case placed second with $18bn, followed by Clifford Chance with $16.3bn, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison with $16.3bn, and Latham & Watkins with $15.5bn.

In the volume table, Latham & Watkins was second with 14 deals. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett followed with 13, ahead of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison on 11 and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on 10.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “There was a three-fold jump in the total number of deals advised by Kirkland & Ellis in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025 and resultantly, its ranking by volume jumped from 17^th to the top position.

“Similarly, there was more than a five-fold jump in the total value of deals advised by Sullivan & Cromwell, lifting its ranking from 14^th by value in Q1 2025 to top spot in Q1 2026. Four of the five deals advised by Sullivan & Cromwell during Q1 2026 were billion-dollar deals, including two mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it register a massive jump in terms of value.”

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.