Law firms have ridden the highs and lows of a rollercoaster first half, with mixed deal fortunes set against the backdrop of significant shifts in the regulatory environment.

Aggregate global deal values climbed 25% year-on-year (YoY) to USD 2trn, boosted by the strongest half-year for mega deals of more than USD 10bn since 2H20, with larger corporates willing to absorb post-“Liberation Day” uncertainty to achieve strategic objectives.

Yet the deal count of 16,663 represents a 20-year low, with mid-market M&A timetables pushed out amid US tariff and geopolitical concerns. Shifts in merger control approach and personnel at the US Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority have also played out this year.

After a complex six months, Latham & Watkins tops the table by deal values, according to Mergermarket’s 1H25 global and regional M&A rankings.

Latham & Watkins grew its deal values to USD 320.6bn (up 21.4% YoY) – supported by acting on seven mega deals in the period, including a plum sellside role on Charter Communications’ USD 36.1bn acquisition of US cable and broadband player Cox Communications. Some 36% of the firm’s activity was in Technology deals, aligning with strong growth in US sector M&A values. Latham & Watkins was also No.1 in the US ranking. Amid loud LP demands for returns, Latham & Watkins additionally topped global private equity exit rankings, hoovering up USD 64.6bn in deals – climbing an astonishing 44.8% YoY.

Just three firms cleared USD 200bn in aggregate deal values, with Latham & Watkins joined by Kirkland & Ellis (USD 286.6bn, up 1.9% YoY) and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (USD 208.5bn, up 12.5% YoY).

Clifford Chance (USD 182.3bn, up 96.6% YoY) and White & Case (USD 177.9bn, up 25.7% YoY) broke into the top 10 at six and seven, respectively. Alongside Latham & Watkins and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, these firms also have roles on the ongoing Cox/Charter deal.

Davis Polk & Wardwell also broke into the top 10, coming in at 8, having advised on four mega deals, including Toyota Fudosan’s USD 33.3bn takeover offer for 69.92% of Toyota Industries Corp in Japan.

By deal count, Goodwin Procter (437, up 36) took the top spot from DLA Piper (395, down 346), with Latham & Watkins (364, flat YoY) in bronze position.

European performance

With Teresa Ribera taking up the mantle of merger reviews at the European Commission and the UK government setting a new growth-oriented “strategic steer” for its Competition and Markets Authority, there has been plenty for dealmaking lawyers to digest as European nations weigh competition rules against the need for scale in the race for global competitiveness.

Freshfields took the European top spot from fourth in 1H last year, with USD 108.1bn in deal values, up 13% YoY. The firm worked on three European mega deals, including advice to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on its pending USD 16.5bn sale of a 64% stake in its polyolefin chemicals player Borouge to Austria’s OMV – which also took Freshfields to the top spot across DACH. Freshfields’ deal value haul was very evenly split, with 48% from buyside roles and 52% from sellside mandates.

Taking silver and bronze across Europe were Latham & Watkins (USD 106.2bn, up 4.7% YoY), which also scored the No.1 position in the UK, and Clifford Chance (USD 72.4bn, up 9.9% YoY).

Breaking into the top 10 were three names: A&O Shearman at five from 13 (USD 65.7bn, up 83.4% YoY); Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton at seven from 16 (USD 60.9bn, up 88.8% YoY) and Weil Gotshal & Manges at nine from 27 (USD 43.5bn, up 66.6% YoY).

A&O Shearman has scored particularly highly among UK-listed takeovers, with buyside roles on Prosus’ pending USD 5bn takeover of food delivery player Just Eat Takeaway and American Axle & Manufacturing’s USD 2.9bn move for engineering specialist Dowlais Group – both deals are facing European Commission scrutiny, through merger review and Foreign Subsidies Regulation lenses, respectively.

UK success was particularly hard won in a first half where aggregate deal values were down by 27% at USD 87.2bn. Six of the top 10 law firms by deal value in the UK saw declines year-on-year.

Among the top 10 entries in Europe, only Cleary Gottlieb scored a mega deal via its role as advisor to Mediobanca as the Italian bank attempts to fend off a USD 15.4bn hostile approach from Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. There is an irony that if Cleary is successful, it will likely scrub a significant chunk of deal value from its annual haul.

Across the continent, local players asserted their dominance, with Arthur Cox (USD 13.2bn, down 12.5% YoY) retaining its Ireland No.1 spot; Hengeler Mueller (USD 23.2bn, up 81.9% YoY) besting Freshfields (USD 17bn, down 48.6% YoY) in Germany and climbing from tenth last year. In addition to these, Baer & Karrer (USD 33.7bn, up more than 26 times YoY) was buoyed by its advice to Holcim on the USD 33.7bn spin-off of Amrize) and has taken top spot in Switzerland; Uria Menendez (USD 15.1bn, down 43% YoY) is at No.1 in Iberia; and Vinge (USD 16.9bn, up 18.2% YoY) is leading across the Nordics.

On the deal count front across Europe, our top two firms are unchanged – DLA Piper leads with 235 deals, down 185 from last year; CMS takes second place with 175 deals, down 126 YoY.

American exceptionalism

President Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January marked the end of the neo-Brandeisian antitrust settlement embodied by outgoing FTC chair Lina Khan. In her place, Andrew N Ferguson – who had been a dissenting voice as a commissioner during Khan’s tenure – certainly represents a turn of the page.

Still, the heterodox MAGA movement’s approach to merger review appears to have several fault lines. Trump’s much vaunted love of dealmaking is set against a protectionist stance over situations such as US Steel’s takeover by Nippon Steel. This was finally waved through by Trump last month via executive order, reflecting the Japanese giant’s investment plans and the granting of a “golden share” that sees the US government retain veto rights over certain corporate decisions.

Overall, North American M&A dealmaking was dented by tariff uncertainty, falling 17% to 5,038 deals – the lowest haul since the dog days of 2009. However, aggregate deal values climbed 11% YoY to USD 969bn, with OpenAI’s USD 40bn funding round emblematic of continued pursuit of upside in driving AI innovation, even after the DeepSeek scare at the beginning of the year.

Latham & Watkins climbed two places to take the top spot in the Americas, with a haul of USD 291.4bn, up 25% YoY, buoyed – as mentioned above – by its role on Cox/Charter. Some 43.5% (130 out of 300) of Latham’s deals over the period were in the TMT space. The firm came in No.3 for deal count across the Americas (289, up 15) and ruled the roost on deal values in the US South and West, taking pole position in both regions.

Kirkland & Ellis (USD 265.3bn, up 2.5% YoY) retained the No.2 Americas spot, while jumping up the top 10 rankings to take pole position across both the US North East and US Mid West. The firm secured a major buyside role on Constellation Energy’s proposed USD 29.4bn takeover of US power generation player Calpine Corp – the fifth-largest Americas-targeted deal during 1H25 and a huge exit for sponsor Energy Capital Partners.

Watchell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (USD 205.7bn, up 11% YoY) was at No.3 across the Americas, with the firm also on that bellwether Cox/Charter deal.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore (USD 138.6bn, up 41.5% YoY) entered the Americas top 10 at six from 15, fresh from scooping up five mega deals across 1H25 and taking a sellside role in Google parent Alphabet’s pending USD 32bn acquisition of cloud security guant Wiz.

White & Case also joined the top 10, climbing to seven from 13 (USD 134.9bn, up 32.5% YoY), boasting four mega deals and a sellside mandate on that ubiquitous Cox/Charter situation.

Ropes & Gray (USD 87.8bn, up 31.3% YoY) held on to an impressive jump up the 1Q25 tables, ending 1H25 at 14 from 20 YoY. It was boosted by sellside work on sponsor Sycamore Partners’ pending USD 23.7bn buyout of US-based pharmacy and personal care store holding Walgreen Boots Alliance.

Taking the top spot in the Americas by deal count was Goodwin Procter, which hauled in 383 (up 55 YoY); 61% of its mandates were buyside and 39% sellside in a period marked by a 17% QoQ fall-off in the number of North American sponsor exits in 2Q25, as “Liberation Day” set back small and mid-market processes.

Asia-Pacific winners

Chinese banking capital injections and a Toyota-driven Japan M&A boom almost doubled deal values in Asia-Pacific in 1H, with a haul of USD 572bn – the highest first half on Mergermarket record. Sponsor buyouts were also a major vector of growth, climbing 2.7x to USD 84.4bn.

Following the DeepSeek AI news storm in January, news last month of the proposed USD 16.1bn merger between Chinese chip designer Hygon and supercomputer manufacturer Sugon demonstrates China’s seriousness in pursuing strategic technological advancement.

King & Wood Mallesons banked the most Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) deal value, with a haul of USD 62.8bn, up almost three times YoY. With a 62% buyside and 38% sellside split across its regional deals, the firm advised on two mega deals – providing sellside advise on the Chinese government’s acquisition of stakes in Bank of China and Bank of Communications for USD 22.7bn and USD 16.5bn, respectively.

Linklaters doubled its aggregate deal values to USD 56.5bn to climb to No.2 from five last year, buoyed by a buyside role for XRG – its client is part of an ADNOC-led consortium that has tabled a USD 24bn offer for Australian LNG player Santos Ltd

Mega deals drove significant churn across the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) top 10.

Clifford Chance entered not only the top 10 but took the No.3 spot in 1H, more than quadrupling its haul YoY to USD 48.7bn. The firm scored two mega deals, with sellside mandates on the Chinese government’s acquisition of stakes in China Construction Bank Corp (USD 14.5bn) and Postal Savings Bank of China (USD 17.9bn).

Also entering the top 10 are Allens (USD 34.5bn, up three times YoY), in at six from 15 and also advising XRG on that Santos Ltd deal. Weil Gotshal & Manges (USD 27.1bn, up almost eight times YoY) moves to seven from 42, fresh from scoring a buyside mandate from BlackRock for its USD 19.2bn acquisition of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison’s port holdings. Khaitan & Co (USD 25.3bn, up 96.9% YoY) climbs to nine from 12, its numbers inflated by its work on Siemens’ USD 8.4bn spin-off of Siemens Energy India; and Jiayuan Law Offices (USD 20.8bn, up more than 11 times), to 10 from 64, with the firm having provided sellside advice on that Postal Savings Bank of China deal.

Across Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) deal count, Indian firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas undertook the most transactions with 93 deals, down 42 YoY.

Japan’s legal community saw eye-watering rises across its deal values, with major firms lapping up roles across Toyota’s unwinding of cross-shareholdings. Nishimura & Asahi (USD 103.5bn, up almost fourfold) claimed the No.1 position; Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (USD 87.2bn, up almost six times) took silver; Morrison & Foerster (USD 54.1bn, up more than six times) won the bronze medal.

by John West