Kirkland & Ellis was the highest-ranked legal adviser for mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2026, leading both by deal value and deal count in GlobalData’s latest league table.
Figures from GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database showed the firm worked on 267 transactions with a combined value of $411.8bn.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
In the value ranking, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was second with $366.2bn of advised deals.
Sullivan & Cromwell ranked third with $311.1bn, followed by Latham & Watkins on $237.8bn and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on $232.6bn.
In the volume table, Latham & Watkins was second with 234 deals. White & Case was next with 122, followed by DLA Piper with 119 and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison with 111.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “Kirkland & Ellis was the clear winner, staying significantly ahead of its peers in terms of value as well as volume in H1 2026. It witnessed an improvement in volume and value of deals it advised on during H1 2026 compared to H1 2025, but the growth was more prominent in terms of value. The total value of deals advised by Kirkland & Ellis almost doubled in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025. Its ranking by volume improved from second to the top position while its ranking by value jumped from third to the top spot.
“During H1 2026, it advised on 50 billion-dollar deals* that also included six mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Kirkland & Ellis register the 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.
