Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis led the legal advisory scene in tech, media, and telecom (TMT) mergers and acquisitions for Q1 2026, based on the latest figures from GlobalData.
Taking the lead in deal value, Latham & Watkins managed transactions totalling $41.7bn. This performance was driven by the firm’s involvement in eight deals over $1bn, including one surpassing $10bn.
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Kirkland & Ellis, meanwhile, excelled in deal volume with 41 transactions.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “There was an improvement in the total volume of deals advised by Kirkland & Ellis in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025. Resultantly, its ranking by volume improved from the second position to the top position.”
Kirkland & Ellis also achieved the eighth position by value in the reported quarter.
Cravath Swaine & Moore ranked second by value, advising on $25.2bn in deals. Following were Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $20.9bn, A&O Shearman at $16.8bn, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison with $16.7bn.
In terms of deal numbers, Latham & Watkins came second with 39 deals, followed by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with 24, DLA Piper with 18, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher with 17.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available in 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.
