Norton Rose Fulbright and Kirkland & Ellis have emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the oil and gas (O&G) sector for the first quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025), according to GlobalData’s latest legal advisers league table.
Norton Rose Fulbright secured the top position by value, advising on deals worth $11bn. Kirkland & Ellis, on the other hand, led by volume with 12 deals under their guidance.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only adviser to hit double-digit deal volume during Q1 2025. Apart from leading by volume in Q1 2025, Kirkland & Ellis also held the fourth position by value.
“Meanwhile, Norton Rose Fulbright advised on a much lesser number of deals but still managed to lead by value in Q1 2025, primarily due to its involvement in the $10.4bn Whitecap Resources-Veren merger deal. Apart from leading by value in Q1 2025, Norton Rose Fulbright also occupied the sixth position by volume.”
Burnet Duckworth & Palmer followed closely in terms of deal value, advising on transactions amounting to $10.6bn. Blake Cassels & Graydon, with $10.4bn, and Vinson & Elkins, with $6.6bn, also featured prominently in the rankings. Kirkland & Ellis, apart from leading in volume, tied with Blake Cassels & Graydon in value, each advising on $10.4bn worth of deals.
In terms of deal volume, Vinson & Elkins claimed the second spot with eight deals, while White & Case and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher each advised on five deals. Latham & Watkins also figured in the list with three deals.
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 to the data, the company alsoseeks submissions of dealsfrom leading advisers.
