A&O Shearman and White & Case emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the Middle East & Africa during the first half of 2025, according to the latest legal advisers league table by GlobalData. 

The analysis of GlobalData’s deals database shows that A&O Shearman secured its top position by advising on deals worth $2.8bn. In terms of volume, White & Case led with eight deals. 

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “White & Case registered an improvement in the total number of deals advised by it during H1 2025 compared to H1 2024. Resultantly, its ranking by volume also improved from the second position in H1 2024 to the top position in H1 2025. Apart from leading by volume, White & Case also occupied the third position by value. 

“Meanwhile, A&O Shearman, which was the top adviser by value in H1 2024, also managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in H1 2025. Apart from leading by value, A&O Shearman also held the fifth position by volume during H1 2025.” 

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom ranked second in terms of value, advising on $2.5bn worth of deals.  

White & Case followed closely with $2.4bn, alongside Paul Hastings at $2.4bn and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer at $2.3bn. 

In terms of volume, Baker McKenzie secured the second position with six deals.  

Dentons and DLA Piper followed with four deals each, while A&O Shearman completed three deals. 

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.