Latham & Watkins has secured the top spot as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal adviser in the power sector for the first half of 2024, according to GlobalData’s league table.

The company’s dominance is marked by both the value and the volume of the deals upon which it advised. These amounted to $11.5bn across 14 transactions.

Kirkland & Ellis followed closely in terms of deal value, providing counsel on transactions worth $11bn.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom also played a major role, advising on deals totalling $9.7bn.

Clifford Chance and White & Case rounded out the top five with $8.3bn and $7.6bn in advised deal values respectively.

In terms of deal volume, CMS took the second position, matching Latham & Watkins with 14 deals.

Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case each advised on 12 deals, demonstrating their significant presence in the sector. Vinson & Elkins also showcased its expertise with involvement in 11 deals.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Latham & Watkins witnessed improvement in total deal volume and value in H1 2024 compared to H1 2023. Consequently, its ranking by these metrics also improved.

“Latham & Watkins went ahead from occupying the ninth position by volume in H1 2023 to top the chart in H1 2024. Similarly, Its ranking in terms of value also improved from fifth position in H1 2023 to the top position in H1 2024.”

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