Kirkland & Ellis has claimed the top spot among legal advisers in the construction sector for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) during the first half of 2026, leading both by deal value and by the number of transactions handled, according to GlobalData’s latest legal advisers league table.
The US-based law firm advised on 16 transactions during the period, with a combined disclosed value of US$43.9 billion.
The figures, drawn from GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database, place Kirkland & Ellis well ahead of its closest rivals on both counts.
Sullivan & Cromwell came in second by value, having advised on deals worth a combined US$38.5 billion.
Latham & Watkins followed closely behind in third place, with US$35.1 billion in advised deal value. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom rounded out the upper tier with US$34.9 billion, while Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas took fifth position with US$30.3 billion.
The rankings looked somewhat different when measured by volume rather than value.
Latham & Watkins placed second on this measure, having advised on 15 deals, just one shy of Kirkland & Ellis’s total.
White & Case took third, advising on 14 transactions.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher tied for fourth, each having advised on 13 deals during the half.
The scale of Kirkland & Ellis’s rise is notable when set against the same period last year.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose noted that both the volume and value of deals advised by the firm improved substantially in H1 2026 compared with H1 2025, with the growth being more pronounced on the value side.
According to Bose, the firm’s ranking by value climbed from fourth place to the top spot over the course of the year, while its position by volume saw an even sharper rise.
“While its ranking by value improved from fourth to the top position, its ranking by volume jumped from the 51st position to the top spot,” said Bose.
That jump reflects both a broader base of transactions and the firm’s involvement in some of the sector’s largest deals of the half.
“During H1 2026, Kirkland & Ellis advised on five billion-dollar deals that also included a mega deal valued at more than US$10 billion,” Bose said, adding that this involvement in big-ticket transactions was central to the firm’s climb to the top of the value rankings.
The construction sector has been a focal point for M&A activity in recent periods, with law firms competing for mandates on increasingly large and complex transactions.
The presence of multiple billion-dollar deals in Kirkland & Ellis’s portfolio during H1 2026, including one exceeding US$10 billion, appears to have been decisive in separating it from its closest competitors on the value front.
While Kirkland & Ellis’s lead in volume was narrower, edging out Latham & Watkins by a single transaction, the firm’s dominance across both metrics underscores a broad-based strength in the construction M&A advisory market during the period.
The league table results offer a snapshot of shifting dynamics among top legal advisers in the sector, with several firms, including Sullivan & Cromwell, Skadden, and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, also posting strong showings in a competitive first half for construction dealmaking.
