Just as the first half of 2026 was closing, the UK’s possible intervention in Paramount Skydance’s USD 110bn takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery was a salient reminder of the importance of the legal teams behind dealmaking.

Whether it be RFPs, offer documents, earn-out agreements or unseen regulatory black swans, Mergermarket’s 1H26 global and regional M&A rankings capture the breadth of work legal advisors have undertaken to achieve their clients’ ambitions in a record first half defined by the pursuit of scale and resilience.

At USD 3.16tn, up 44% year-on-year (YoY), the first half deal volume haul puts 2026 on track to surpass 2021 as the most active year of all time. Corporate boards in particular have shown unrivalled audacity, with 78% of that volume coming from deals involving strategic acquirors.

In that context, Kirkland & Ellis’s position at the summit of the global rankings is impressive. Moving up into the No.1 spot from second last year, its volume tally of USD 600.5bn has climbed 94.6% YoY – more than double the global M&A increase. Market share gain to 20.6% from 14.3% YoY also showed significant progress.

Securing the lead buyside role on NextEra Energy’s colossal USD 118.8bn takeover of US diversified utility Dominion Energy was a major boost to Kirkland & Ellis’s position. Some two-thirds of the firm’s 392 transaction tally was on the buyside, supporting its run into the bronze medal position on deal count. Late in 2Q, it also took the plum sellside role in SpaceX’s USD 60bn takeover of AI coding start-up Cursor.

Sullivan & Cromwell arguably had the most remarkable run, rising to second place from eighth last year and boasting volume of USD 433.1bn, up 126.7% YoY. With a deal count of just 99, the firm focused relentlessly on the world’s largest deals, securing mandates on 11 of the 48 megadeals of over USD 10bn clocked up in 1H26.

The firm’s work for OpenAI on its mammoth USD 122bn capital raise closed at the end of 1Q boosted its numbers. Sullivan & Cromwell also has a target-side role with Commerzbank, subject to a hostile approach at a deal value of USD 29.5bn from UniCredit – given its defence mandate, the firm may have mixed feelings that the bidder has secured just under 50% voting rights in the German lender, even if it juices league table stats. It’ll be uncomplicatedly happy about its 1H26 market share rising to 14.8% from 8.8% YoY.

Latham & Watkins drops to third from the top spot last year, with its USD 431.8bn volume up a comparatively modest 15.4% YoY and market share trimmed to 14.8% from 17.3% YoY. However, the breadth of its work continues to impress, with deal count of 400 placing it at No.2 on that score.

A major buyside role with Orange as it joins Iliad and Bouygues to buy Altice France’s SFR assets for USD 24bn is a landmark mandate for Latham & Watkins given the huge antitrust implications of trying to engineer a 4-to-3 telco merger within the European Union.

Paul, Weiss (USD 365.5bn, up 116.8%) and Gibson Dunn (USD 294.3bn, up 84.8% YoY) climbed into the top 10 by volume at six and nine, respectively.

While astonishing volume bears testament to boards’ pursuit of scale in a world marked by geopolitical fracture and the race for AI supremacy, the deals in the mid-market USD 250m-USD 1bn aggregated to just USD 404bn. Though this represents 16% YoY growth, it substantially lags the headline figure.

Private equity activity is a major factor here, with sponsor-related volumes of USD 745bn up a meagre 2% YoY and down 34% from USD 1.13tn in 2H25.

Monetisation in assets that had been part of the post-pandemic sponsor buying spree among software and business services-adjacent names hit a brick wall when Anthropic released its Claude Cowork plug-ins earlier this year, kicking off the so-called “SaaSpocalypse”.

Projection modelling headaches and valuation gaps have dogged private equity transactions ever since.

This may account for 13 of the top 20 legal advisors by deal count recording falls on the measure, including four of the top five.

DLA Piper retains its deal count crown with a haul of 411, though this is down significantly on its tally of 718 last year and the firm pips Latham & Watkins to the post by only 11 deals and third-placed Kirkland & Ellis by just 19 deals.

Despite UK authorities flirting with the kind of spoiler tactics that saw it clumsily intervene in the Activision Blizzard/Microsoft deal back in 2023, President Trump’s self-appointment as “dealmaker-in-chief” and the European Union’s desire to see continental champions compete on the global stage bode well for boards continuing to back boldness in 2H26.

Legal advisors continue to prove their great worth in navigating boards and sponsors alike through this changing landscape, executing gargantuan deal volumes as never before.

Europe

• Freshfields jumped up a spot to take the gold with USD 203.3bn, almost 2x up from its 1H25 total.
• Linklaters moved up 15 spots to grab the silver with USD 174.8bn, with roles the USD 34.4bn TK Elevator/Kone deal and the proposed USD 23.3bn takeover of SEGRO by ProLogis.
• DLA Piper retained its gold for deal count, though its haul declined by 45% to 221 in 1H26.
• BAHR climbed up 17 places to reach the fourth spot with 143 deals worth USD 9.8bn.
• In the UK, Slaughter and May jumped 14 spots to reach the first position with USD 128.9bn across 29 deals.
• In DACH, Freshfields maintained its lead with USD 107.6bn across 32 deals.
• In France, Bredin Prat earned the top spot with USD 34.4bn over 14 transactions.
• In Iberia, Uria Menendez led the deal value race with USD 28.6bn across 54 deals. Deloitte Legal moved up by 41 places to grab the silver with USD 15.9bn across 37 deals.
• In Italy, Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici moved up by 12 places to earn the top spot with USD 82.8bn.
• In the Nordics, Linklaters surged 89 spots to the top with USD 63.4bn, an 83.8x rise from its 1H25 volume.

Americas

• Kirkland & Ellis moved up a spot to earn gold in deal value with USD 566.9bn. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom jumped two spots to get silver with USD 398.4bn.
• Kirkland & Ellis jumped three spots to the top for deal count with 372 deals.
• Kirkland & Ellis also kept its gold in the US with USD 565.6bn as well as regionally in the North East, Mid West and South.
• In the West, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz jumped two spots to land on first with USD 266bn.
• In Canada, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt jumped five spots to lead the value charts with USD 39.4bn with 80 deals.

APAC

• In APAC excl. Japan, Linklaters moved up seven places to stand first by volume with USD 48.5bn while Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas claimed second place with USD 43.4bn.
• Mallesons climbed 12 spots to the third place with USD 38.8bn from 46 transactions.
• For deal count in APAC excl. Japan, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Khaitan earned took the crown with 91 deals each.
• In Japan, Nishimura & Asahi led by both deal value and count with USD 46.7bn across 123 deals.
• In Australasia, Mallesons retained the first position with USD 38.8bn across 46 transactions.
• In Greater China, Linklaters grabbed the lead by deal value with USD 32.4bn across 10 deals. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton jumped 82 spots to come second with USD 23.6bn across five deals.
• In India, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas led by deal value with USD 40.8bn. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, alongside Khaitan, topped the deal count rankings with 89 deals each.
• In South Korea, Kim & Chang topped the rankings by both deal value and count with USD 23bn over 69 deals.

Private equity buyouts

• Kirkland & Ellis retained the top spot by both volume and count with USD 129bn across 115 deals.
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett climbed three spots to take the volume silver, with USD 102.4bn.

Private equity exits

• Latham & Watkins took the top spot by volume with USD 101.5bn while Kirkland & Ellis came second with USD 97.3bn.
• Ropes & Gray climbed 17 spots to grab the bronze with USD 42.2bn, a 3.4x increase from its 1H25 tally.
• Kirkland & Ellis led by deal count with USD 97.3bn across 57 deals.