Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in North America for Q1 2021 by value and volume, respectively. Sullivan & Cromwell advised on 32 deals worth $109.3bn, which was the highest value among all advisers. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms having advised on 189 deals worth $108.8bn. A total of 3,927 M&A deals were announced in the region during Q1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and North America M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1 2021’, deal value for the region increased by 132.2% from $208bn in Q1 2020 to US$483bn in Q1 2021.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only adviser to advise on more than 100 deals, and, apart from leading by volume, it also gave tough competition for top position by value. However, the firm lost top position by value to Sullivan & Cromwell by a very small margin and had to settle for second position.

“Meanwhile, Sullivan & Cromwell advised on a much lower number of deals but saw higher-value transactions – helping it top by value. While the average transaction of deals advised by Sullivan & Cromwell stood at $3.4bn, it was just $576m for Kirkland & Ellis.”

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied the third position in terms of value with 56 deals worth $101bn, followed by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison with 44 deals worth $99.8bn and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz with 21 deals worth $84.4bn.

Latham & Watkins occupied the second position by volume with 84 deals worth $81.9bn followed by Willkie Farr & Gallagher with 66 deals worth $55.4bn, Jones Day with 66 deals worth $24.8bn and Goodwin Procter with 63 deals worth $27bn.