Kirkland & Ellis topped the European mergers and acquisitions legal adviser rankings by deal value in the first six months of 2026, while White & Case was first by deal count, according to GlobalData.
Using data from its Financial Deals Database, GlobalData said Kirkland & Ellis advised on transactions worth $83.9bn. White & Case was involved in 75 deals, the highest total by volume.
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In the value ranking, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was second with $74bn, followed by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett on $66.5bn, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on $63.3bn and Latham & Watkins on $49.8bn.
In the volume table, CMS placed second with 68 deals. DLA Piper followed with 64, while Cuatrecasas advised on 56 and Latham & Watkins on 49.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “White & Case’s ranking by volume improved from the second position in H1 2025 to the top position in H1 2026. It also held the seventh position by value in H1 2026.
“Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis, despite advising on much lesser number of deals, managed to lead by value due to its involvement in big-ticket deals. During H1 2026, it advised on six billion-dollar deals* that also included two mega deals valued more than $10 billion.”
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.
