Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins lead H1 2025 retail M&A legal advisers rankings

Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins have led the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers rankings in the retail sector by deal value and volume, respectively, for the first half (H1) of 2025, according to the latest league table from data and analytics company GlobalData.

On GlobalData’s deals database, Kirkland & Ellis secured the top position by value, with $33.5bn in advised deals.

Latham & Watkins topped by volume with advisory on seven deals.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose stated: “Both Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins did not even feature among the top advisers by value and volume, respectively, in H1 2024. However, in H1 2025, they not only registered year-on-year improvement in the total value and volume of deals advised by them but also managed to top the charts by these metrics.

“Apart from leading by value, Kirkland & Ellis also occupied the third position by volume in H1 2025. Similarly, Latham & Watkins, which led by volume, also held the eighth position by value during the same period.”

Ropes & Gray followed closely in the value category, advising on deals amounting to $29.2bn.

It was followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $26.2bn, Davis Polk & Wardwell with $24.9bn, and Hengeler Mueller with $23.7bn in advised deal values.

In the volume category, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison also advised on seven deals, matching Latham & Watkins but with lower total deal value.

Kirkland & Ellis advised on six deals, the same number as CMS. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom rounded out the top five with four deals.

GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.

To further ensure the robustness of the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.

“Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins lead H1 2025 retail M&A legal advisers rankings” was originally created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand.

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