M&A Rebound Lifts Elite Law Firms After Near-Record Deal Year

Global announced M&A activity reached $4.6 trillion in 2025, marking a 49% jump from the prior year and the highest level since the dealmaking boom of 2021, according to Reuters, citing LSEG’s latest legal adviser rankings. The data also showed a record 68 transactions valued at $10 billion or more, the most such “mega deals” recorded since tracking began in 1980.

Executives at major law firms told Reuters they expect 2026 to be just as active, if not more so. “There’s no reason to be anything other than highly optimistic,” said Stuart Cable, vice chair of Goodwin Procter and global head of its M&A practice, according to Reuters.

The surge in deal volume translated into outsized gains for the firms at the top of the league tables. Kirkland & Ellis once again ranked first among principal legal advisers, working on deals totaling $829 billion in 2025, more than double its deal value from the previous year, according to preliminary LSEG figures cited by Reuters. Latham & Watkins followed closely, ranking second as a principal adviser with $719 billion in deal value, a 125% increase year over year, per Reuters.

An LSEG spokesperson noted that some rankings details could still change due to how competing bids for Warner Bros Discovery were recorded, according to Reuters.

A small group of firms dominated the upper tier of the market. Kirkland, Latham, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, and Skadden Arps each advised on $600 billion or more in deals as principal advisers in 2025, distancing themselves from the rest of the top 20 firms, whose average deal value was roughly $232 billion, according to Reuters.

“There’s no doubt that the legal market has sort of bifurcated and there is a flight to the top,” said Michael Weisser, a private equity partner at Kirkland, per Reuters. That divide is expected to widen, with clients increasingly gravitating toward firms with the scale and expertise to handle larger and more complex transactions.

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Alex Kelly, who co-chairs the M&A and private equity practice at Latham & Watkins, echoed that view in an email to Reuters. “As deals increase in volume, complexity and geographic reach, clients are looking to a smaller number of firms to source, structure and execute on transactions,” she said.

Lower interest rates also played a role in reviving deal activity last year. Michael Kendall, who co-leads the M&A practice at Goodwin, told Reuters that rate cuts helped unlock transactions and could continue to support dealmaking. “There’s a lot of room to go downward, which I think portends well for 2026 and beyond,” he said.

While some firms led by deal value, others stood out by volume. Goodwin Procter ranked first by number of transactions, advising on 945 deals worth $123 billion, according to Reuters, citing LSEG data.

Leaders at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz also signaled confidence that the coming year could surpass the last. “We are neck deep in ongoing deals, and the pipeline is bulging as well,” said Adam Emmerich and Jacob Kling in a statement, according to Reuters.

Optimism is not limited to the legal sector. A recent Citizens Financial survey of about 400 companies found that M&A activity among midsize firms is expected to rise, driven in part by private equity’s renewed willingness to pursue transactions, per Reuters. Bankers at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have also said they expect the pickup in dealmaking to extend into 2026, according to Reuters.

Source: Reuters