Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the financial services sector during the first three quarters (Q1-Q3) of 2026, ranking first by value and volume, respectively, in GlobalData’s latest legal advisers league table.
Sullivan & Cromwell led the value rankings by advising on $38.9bn worth of deals, while Kirkland & Ellis topped the volume charts with 32 deals, according to GlobalData’s Deals Database.
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In terms of value, second place went to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $37.4bn, closely matched by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which also recorded $37.4bn.
Rounding out the top tier by value were Ropes & Gray with $33.1bn and A&O Shearman with $30.8bn.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett took second place with 29 deals, followed jointly by Latham & Watkins and Alston & Bird at 27 deals each.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom rounded out the top five with 26 deals.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Coincidentally, both Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis share a common pattern of shift in their positions in value and volume rankings, respectively.
“Kirkland & Ellis saw an improvement in its ranking by volume from second position during Q1-Q3 2025 to the top position during Q1-Q3 2026, even though there was a year-on-year fall in the number of deals advised by it. The decline was the smallest among all the advisers in the top 10 by volume that saw a decrease.
“Similarly, several advisers among the top 10 by value also registered a year-on-year decline. In fact, Sullivan & Cromwell also witnessed a decline in the total value of deals advised by it. However, its ranking by value improved from second to the top position.”
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.
