Skadden was the leading global M&A legal advisor by deal value in the first nine months of the year, according to the London Stock Exchange Group, as overall deal values rose by 16% compared to year-ago levels.

The firm, which placed sixth in the full year 2023 rankings, advised on 159 deals worth $331.6bn in the first nine months of this year, including repping Ansys on its $35bn sale to Synopsys and Squarespace on its $6.9bn take-private acquisition by Permira. Meantime Kirkland & Ellis – last year’s leading firm – placed second, acting on deals worth $315.4bn. 

Kirkland was followed by Latham & Watkins, which worked on deals worth $290.6bn, with the top five rounded out by Paul Weiss and Sullivan & Cromwell, which worked on deals worth $282bn and $271.7bn respectively. 

The value of global M&A deals jumped 16% to $2.3trn in the first nine months compared to a year earlier, marking the strongest opening nine-month period for deal-making since 2022. The third quarter increased 14% compared to the second quarter of the year.

The rise in value was from a smaller tally of deals – 35,500 – a 20% decrease on the same period in 2023 and an eight-year low. This dynamic of increasing value but falling volumes signalled a resurgence in megadeals, with transactions worth at least $10bn up 34% in the first nine months compared to year-ago levels to $515.2bn – the strongest opening period for megadeals, by value, since 2022. 

Activity was driven by a buoyant US-targeted market, which jumped 18% to $1.1trn. US deal-making accounted for 48% of overall worldwide M&A during the first half, up from 47% a year ago and the largest percentage for US deal-making since the first nine months of 2019. Meantime, European target M&A totalled $481.3bn, up 30% compared to 2023 levels and a two-year high, while Asia Pacific deal-making dropped 8% to $415.6bn, marking the slowest period since 2013. 

Technology and energy and power led activity by sector, each accounting for 16% of overall deals. Tech deals totalled $374.8bn, up 29% compared to 2023 levels, while the energy sector was up 20%.   

Private equity-backed buyouts were up 40% to $547.9bn – the fourth largest first nine-month period for PE-backed M&A since records began in 1980. 

Freshfields was the highest-ranked UK firm, ending the first nine-month period in eighth spot having worked on 178 deals worth $202.8bn. Linklaters (14), A&O Shearman (18) and Australian firm Allens (22) were the only other non-US firms in the top 25.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher rose the furthest up the ranking among the top 10 firms, jumping 13 places to ninth after working on deals valued at $193.6bn. Paul Weiss, which has been rapidly adding top corporate talent on both sides of the Atlantic, rose eight places to fourth – the second-highest gain among the top 10.  

Meantime Goodwin Procter led the league table rankings by deal volume, working on 609 deals worth $135.3bn. Kirkland was second with 563 deals and Latham & Watkins was third with 467 deals.