Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Kirkland & Ellis led legal advisory activity in technology, media, and telecom (TMT) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the first half (H1) of 2026, according to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database.
By deal value, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison ranked first having advised on transactions totalling $109.6bn during the period.
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Kirkland & Ellis led by deal volume, advising on 81 TMT transactions in the six-month timeframe.
Sullivan & Cromwell took second place by deal value, working on $98.3bn worth of transactions. Kirkland & Ellis ranked third by value, with $91.7bn in advised deals.
This was followed by White & Case at $87.5bn, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher at $76.1bn in TMT deal value for H1 2026.
For the number of advisory roles, Latham & Watkins came second by volume with 73 deals.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was third in deal count with 52, while both Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and DLA Piper advised on 30 deals each in the TMT space.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “The total value of deals advised by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison registered more than a double-fold jump in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025, driven by its involvement in some big-ticket deals.
“During H1 2026, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison advised on eight billion-dollar deals that also included three mega deals valued more than $10bn. Resultantly, its ranking by value increased from fifth position in H1 2025 to the top position in H1 2026.
“Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis’s ranking by volume improved from the second position in H1 2025 to the top position in H1 2026.”
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.
