Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Kirkland & Ellis emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the financial services for Q1 2021 by value and volume, respectively. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised on four deals worth US$23.8bn, the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms having advised on 20 deals worth US$5.1bn. A total of 908 M&A deals were announced during Q1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Financial Services M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1 2021’, deal value decreased by 16.7% from US$174bn in Q1 2020 to US$145bn in Q1 2021.

Ravi Tokala, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton’s involvement in the lone megadeal (valued more than or equal to US$10bn) catapulted the firm to the top spot, however, the transaction, Chubb’s proposal to acquire Hartford, was rejected.

“Kirkland & Ellis, which occupied top spot in volume terms, did not even feature among the top ten advisers by value due to its involvement in low-value transactions. While the average deal size of transactions advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton stood at US$5.9bn, it was just US$256mn for Kirkland & Ellis.”

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied the second position by both value and volume with 13 deals worth US$22.9bn.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett occupied the third rank by value with 11 deals worth US$22.8bn, followed by Sidley Austin with 11 deals worth US$16.6bn and Latham & Watkins with 11 deals worth US$15bn.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher occupied the third rank by volume with 12 deals worth US$5.7bn, followed by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Sidley Austin.