Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Latham & Watkins emerged as the leading legal advisers for oil and gas sector mergers and acquisitions (M&A) during the first half of 2026 (H1 2026).
They ranked first in terms of value and volume, respectively, according to a league table from data analytics company GlobalData.
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GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database shows that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom topped the value table by advising on deals worth $32.4bn.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson ranked second by deal value, advising on transactions totalling $31.4bn.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher followed with $25.6bn, while Baker Botts handled $17.3bn worth of deals and Vinson & Elkins $17.1bn.
Meanwhile, in terms of volume, Latham & Watkins handled 18 deals to take the top place.
Kirkland & Ellis ranked second having also secured 18 deals but with a lower total deal value.
Vinson & Elkins took third position with 17 deals. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison followed with eight deals and Stikeman Elliott with seven deals.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “There was an improvement in the total number of deals advised by Latham & Watkins in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025, and its ranking by volume also improved from second position to the top position. It also held the sixth position by value in H1 2026.
“Meanwhile, there was more than a sixfold jump in the total value of deals advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025 due to its involvement in some big-ticket deals.
“As a result, its ranking by value moved up from 20th position in H1 2025 to the top spot in H1 2026. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised on two billion-dollar deals in H1 2026, which also included a mega deal valued at more than $10bn.”
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.
