Kirkland & Ellis was the top legal adviser for oil and gas sector mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2025, both in terms of deal value and volume, based on a league table from data analytics company GlobalData.
According to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database, Kirkland & Ellis advised on 51 deals valued at $81.9bn, securing its position at the forefront of M&A legal advice within the industry.
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In terms of deal value, Latham & Watkins followed Kirkland & Ellis with $78.4bn in advised deals.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett came next with $48.4bn, while Sullivan & Cromwell and Vinson & Elkins completed the top five with $43.6bn and $39.4bn, respectively.
Regarding volume, Latham & Watkins also secured the second position by advising on 35 deals.
Vinson & Elkins ranked third with 30 deals, with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher advising on 21 deals and White & Case concluding 16 deals.
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By GlobalDataGlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by value as well as volume in 2024 and managed to retain its leadership positions in 2025 also.
“In terms of volume, it was comfortably ahead of other advisers. However, the margin was relatively less by value. It is noteworthy that Kirkland & Ellis registered improvement in the total number of deals advised during 2025 compared to the previous year but registered a drop in value terms.”
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 of the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
