Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Alston & Bird have emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the financial services sector for the first half of 2025, according to GlobalData.
An analysis of the UK-based data and analytics company’s deals database reveals that Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz advised on deals worth $54.3bn, securing the top position in terms of value.
Alston & Bird, on the other hand, led in deal volume, advising on a total of 24 transactions during the six-month period.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was the top adviser by value in H1 2024 and managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in H1 2025 as well. In fact, it was the only adviser to surpass the $50bn mark in total deal value during H1 2025. Due to its involvement in big-ticket deals in H1 2025, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz registered more than 25% year-on-year growth in the total value of deals advised by it. During H1 2025, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz advised on three mega deals valued at more than $10bn.
“Meanwhile, Alston & Bird saw more than 30% growth in the total number of deals advised by it during H1 2025 compared to H1 2024. And its ranking by volume also improved from the second position in H1 2024 to the top position in H1 2025.”
Latham & Watkins secured the second position in terms of deal value by advising on transactions worth $41bn.
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By GlobalDataThey were followed by Cravath, Swaine & Moore with $37.8bn, Kirkland & Ellis with $28bn, and Paul Hastings with $24.3bn in deals.
In terms of deal volume, Kirkland & Ellis ranked second with 19 deals. White & Case followed with 17 deals, while both Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Debevoise & Plimpton advised on 15 deals each.
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.
