UK law firms fill the top slots on M&A league tables

UK law firms fill the top slots on M&A league tables

UK law firms continue to dominate the European merger and acquisition (M&A) market with magic circle practices coming top in recent figures for the first nine months of 2001.The league tables for law firms advising on announced M&A transactions, released this week by Mergermarket, show that Freshfields has held off Linklaters to gain first place in the value table - with its 127 deals valued at 114.6 billion.

Linklaters came second with a deal value of 106.7 billion, while Clifford Chance rose from 12th to third place (98.1 billion).Of the four US firms in the top 10, Sullivan & Cromwell was fourth (83.2 billion), while Shearman & Sterling came seventh (63.1 billion).Linklaters' 152 deals put it top for the number of deals, with nine UK firms featuring in the top 10.

Clifford Chance (131) and Freshfields came second and third, while Eversheds' 47 deals take it from 13th to eighth.

Andrew Towler