Kirkland & Ellis and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher emerged as the leading legal advisers for power 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 Kirkland & Ellis topped the value table by advising on deals worth $154.6bn.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison ranked second by deal value, advising on transactions totalling $114.8bn.
Vinson & Elkins followed with $102.7bn, McGuireWoods handled $102.5bn worth of deals and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom $41bn.
Meanwhile, in terms of volume, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher advised on 18 deals to secure the top position.
CMS ranked second in terms of volume with 16 deals.
Latham & Watkins took the third position with 15 deals, followed by Kirkland & Ellis with 13 deals and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas with nine.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “There was an improvement in the number of deals advised by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025 and its ranking by volume improved from eighth to the top position.
“Meanwhile, there was more than a threefold jump in the total value of deals advised by Kirkland & Ellis in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025, and its ranking by value improved from second to the top spot.
“In H1 2026, Kirkland & Ellis advised on six billion-dollar deals that also included a megadeal valued at more than $100bn. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it register a massive jump in terms of value.”
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.
