Kirkland & Ellis held its top spot in the second quarter of 2026, advising on 111 deals, a slight dip from 113 in Q1. No other firm came close on volume. Kirkland advised on 34 more deals than second-place Latham & Watkins, which handled 77 and was the only top-two firm to grow quarter-over-quarter. Kirkland also appeared as legal counsel on two of the quarter's three largest transactions, both times advising the sell side.
The most notable movement in Q2 came from Goodwin Procter, which jumped from 9th to a tie for 3rd with a 44.4% increase in deal count, from 27 to 39 deals. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which ranked 7th in Q1, dropped out of the top 10 entirely.
All transactions reflected here are announced deals, not closed, and cover two transaction types: mergers and acquisitions and buyout/private equity. The league table below ranks the most active law firms advising on those deals by deal count. Dakota tracks these transactions in real time across deal type, sector, and size. To explore the full Q2 transaction data, book a marketplace demo.
Goodwin Procter made the largest move on the table, jumping six rank positions from 9th to a tie for 3rd with Ropes & Gray at 39 deals each, a 44.4% increase from 27 in Q1.
DLA Piper and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher both moved from 10th to a tie for 7th, each growing from 25 to 28 deals (+12.0%). Both firms gained ground as firms ranked above them in Q1 lost volume.
On the other side, Skadden Arps had the steepest percentage decline in the top 10, falling from 6th to 9th with a 16.1% drop, from 31 deals to 26. Weil Gotshal & Manges slipped from 8th to 10th with a 10.7% decline, from 28 to 25 deals. Paul Weiss dropped from 4th to 5th after a Q1 in which it had been one of the table's biggest gainers, declining 8.1% from 37 to 34 deals.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which ranked 7th in Q1 with 29 deals, fell to 11th with 24 deals and dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in recent quarters.
Kirkland & Ellis saw a slight dip from 113 to 111 deals but maintained its lead over the field. Latham & Watkins grew from 73 to 77 deals (+5.5%) and held its second-place position. Sidley Austin was flat at 33 deals, moving from 5th to 6th as Goodwin climbed past.
Five of the ten firms in the top 10 grew their deal counts quarter-over-quarter. Four declined. One was flat.
SpaceX / Anysphere (Cursor), $60 billion. SpaceX's all-stock acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding tool Cursor, was the largest deal of the quarter and the largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup on record. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher advised SpaceX (acquirer). Kirkland & Ellis advised Anysphere (seller).
KONE / TK Elevator, $23.65 billion. KONE's acquisition of TK Elevator from a consortium led by Advent and Cinven, with a total enterprise value of approximately €29.4 billion ($34 billion) including debt, was the largest European transaction of the quarter. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Hannes Snellman advised KONE (acquirer). Kirkland & Ellis, Freshfields, and Roschier advised TK Elevator and the selling consortium (seller).
Intel / Fab 34, $14.2 billion. Intel repurchased Apollo's 49% equity stake in the Fab 34 joint venture in Ireland, a stake Apollo had acquired in 2024 for $11.2 billion. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom served as legal counsel to Intel (buyer). Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison served as legal counsel to Apollo (seller).
These three deals totaled $97.85 billion in combined value and involved seven law firms across both sides. Four of those firms, Kirkland & Ellis (1st), Gibson Dunn (7th), Skadden Arps (9th), and Paul Weiss (5th), rank in the Q2 top 10. Kirkland & Ellis advised on two of the three deals, both times on the sell side. Skadden Arps also advised on two, both times on the buy side.
The Q2 table reflects a quarter where the top of the rankings held steady while the middle reshuffled. Kirkland and Latham maintained their positions at 1st and 2nd. Ropes & Gray held at 3rd. The movement was concentrated in the 4th-through-10th range, where Goodwin Procter's climb and Simpson Thacher's exit changed the composition of the table.
Five firms grew, four declined, and one was flat. The quarter's three largest transactions were all strategic acquirers rather than private equity sponsors, continuing a pattern from Q1.
Dakota tracks every transaction in the league table, along with the firms, advisors, and deal terms behind them. To explore the full Q2 2026 data, book a demo.