On The Merits

Big Law Has a New M&A Top Dog—Can It Keep Kirkland at Bay?


Listen Later

Latham & Watkins took the perch as Big Law's leading M&A dealmaker in the first half of the year, surging past rival Kirkland & Ellis as things started to look up for firms whose fortunes are closely tied to corporate transactions.


Many law firms were expecting a spike in M&A deals in the first quarter of this year, but that largely failed to materialize. Now, with 2025 half over, we're starting to see a lot more activity on this front and firms are reaping the financial benefits.


Global deal volume for the first half of the year is up nearly 20% compared to the same time last year, and that includes Meta Platforms' $14 billion investment in Scale AI. In fact, deals involving AI, either directly or indirectly, have been driving a lot of the activity of the past few months, according to reporter Mahira Dayal, who crunched the numbers for Bloomberg Law's quarterly league tables.


On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Mahira speaks to host Mike Leonard about this and other reasons why the deals market is rebounding after a slow start to the year why it's probably a little too early to start betting against Kirkland.


Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

On The MeritsBy Bloomberg Industry Group

  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1

4.1

31 ratings


More shows like On The Merits

View all
Uncanny Valley | WIRED by WIRED

Uncanny Valley | WIRED

479 Listeners

The Political Scene | The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

3,982 Listeners

Bloomberg Law by Bloomberg

Bloomberg Law

374 Listeners

The Lawfare Podcast by The Lawfare Institute

The Lawfare Podcast

6,279 Listeners

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts by Slate Podcasts

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

3,491 Listeners

Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer by Legal Talk Network

Above the Law - Thinking Like a Lawyer

461 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,661 Listeners

Cases and Controversies by Bloomberg Law

Cases and Controversies

156 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,603 Listeners

Talking Tax by Bloomberg Tax

Talking Tax

112 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,335 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

7,048 Listeners

UnCommon Law by Bloomberg Industry Group

UnCommon Law

173 Listeners

The Journal. by The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

The Journal.

6,015 Listeners

The Big Take by Bloomberg

The Big Take

156 Listeners

The Just Security Podcast by Just Security

The Just Security Podcast

197 Listeners