In the first half of 2025, White & Case has asserted themselves as the top legal adviser by deal value. This remarkable feat has been singled out in GlobalData’s most recent league table of legal advisers. Despite the challenges of the past two and half years, the firm has seen tremendous growth. By deal value, it ranked fourth during the same period last year. The impressive leap to the top spot demonstrates White & Case’s strategic growth and enhanced performance in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) sector.
To put all of this in context—the first half of 2025 has been a bonanza for White & Case. While they greatly increased their total value of deals advised, as well on the H1 2024 leaderboard rankings, overall value of deals advised significantly increased. This rapid growth and development of the practice reflects the firm’s success in quickly responding to and capitalizing on a fast-growing transportation-related legal market.
Performance Comparison with Kirkland & Ellis
Interestingly, White & Case has another parallel with Kirkland & Ellis in their rankings. Both firms did better compared to H1 2024 against H1 2025. Kirkland & Ellis jumped up several spots, projecting huge increases in the value and number of deals in that time.
“Interestingly, White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis showcase a lot of similarities. Both held the fourth position by value and volume, respectively, in H1 2024 and their rankings jumped to the top spot by these metrics in H1 2025. Moreover, White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis showed improvement in the value and volume of deals advised by them in H1 2025 compared to H1 2024, respectively.” – Aurojyoti Bose, GlobalData lead analyst
Both firms are very good at winning the biggest deals. This remarkable talent further solidifies their reputation as unmatched at the top of the M&A advisory market.
Insights from GlobalData
GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has released the Global League Table of Legal Advisers. As with our other M&A tables, this table provides valuable information on the relative performance of legal firms in the M&A market. They’re not this year, and top legal advisers aren’t resting on their laurels. They are adapting and reinventing themselves to stay nimble in an ever more challenging business climate.
The results show that firms such as White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis aren’t just market players. More importantly, they are very much influencing it with their strategic advisory capacities. Their recent success at closing larger, higher-value deals is a testament that there’s an incredibly strong demand for what they’re offering.
