GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has revealed its league tables for top 10 legal advisers by value and volume in North America for Q1 2021 in its report, ‘Global and North America M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1 2021’.
According to GlobalData’s M&A report, a total of 3,927 M&A deals were announced in the region during Q1 2021, while deal value increased by132.2% from $208bn in Q1 2020 to $483bn in Q1 2021 in the region.
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Top Advisers by Value and Volume
Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in North America for Q1 2021 by value and volume, respectively.
Sullivan & Cromwell advised on 32 deals worth $109.3bn, which was the highest value among all advisers.
Kirkland & Ellis led the chart in terms of volume, having advised on 189 deals worth $108.8bn.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only adviser to advise on more than 100 deals, and, apart from leading by volume, it also gave tough competition for top position by value. However, the firm lost top position by value to Sullivan & Cromwell by a very small margin and had to settle for second position.
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By GlobalData“Meanwhile, Sullivan & Cromwell advised on a much lower number of deals but saw higher-value transactions – helping it top by value. While the average transaction of deals advised by Sullivan & Cromwell stood at $3.4bn, it was just $576m for Kirkland & Ellis.”
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom took the third position in terms of value with 56 deals worth $101bn. It was followed by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison with 44 deals worth $99.8bn and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz with 21 deals worth $84.4bn.
Latham & Watkins gained the second position by volume with 84 deals worth $81.9bn. It was followed by Willkie Farr & Gallagher with 66 deals worth $55.4bn, Jones Day with 66 deals worth $24.8bn and Goodwin Procter with 63 deals worth $27bn.
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 from leading advisers, through adviser submission forms on GlobalData’s website.
