Geopolitical uncertainty and elections in several parts of the world could not stem the return of global M&A activity. With USD 428bn in deal volume in 9M24, Kirkland & Ellis took back its crown from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom which came first in 1H24, according to Mergermarket’s global and regional M&A rankings 9M24.

Predictably, Kirkland was first in the US, which remains the world’s largest deal-making engine. Kirkland worked with US clients on 448 deals out of 577 deals in total and assisted the buyside 73% of the time in the US. In total, Kirkland showed a computer services and software bias – representing 40% of its deal volume; still, its largest deal – this quarter and this year – was its sell-side advise to cereal manufacturer Kellanova in its pending USD 36bn sale to Mars.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom fell one spot from 1H24 but was up two spots from 9M23, to USD 369bn – a 43% YoY increase. Skadden continued to work with the buyside on about 57% of its 153 deals. It worked on 29 deals each in computer software and financial services. Its largest deal was its buyside advise to Mars in its aforementioned transaction with Kellanova.

Latham & Watkins, with USD 349bn in deal volume across 497 deals, rounded out the top-three.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and White & Case jumped into the elite top 10 global legal advisor rankings from 23rd and 11th positions in 9M23, respectively. Among all the top 10 players, it was Gibson that had the highest YoY increase and the only one in the triple digits – 150% to USD 194bn across 222 deals. Its two largest deals were its sell side advise to General Electric [NYSE:GE] in its USD 38bn spin-off of its renewable assets known as GE Vernova in March; and its buyside advise to Mars in the aforementioned deal in August.

While all top 10 players by deal volume saw an uptick in YoY numbers, the same was not the case for deal count with seven of the top 10 registering a decline from a year ago.

Still, despite working on 155 fewer deals than it had in 9M23, DLA Piper managed to keep its deal count throne with 708 deals to its credit and a regional win in Europe. It was followed by Kirkland & Ellis – one of the three firms to clock an increase in deal count – with 577 deals, up from 513 a year ago – and Goodwin Procter with 565 deals, also 71 fewer than in 9M23.