The firm leads three separate rankings - Bloomberg, Mergermarket and Thomson Reuters - for the first six months of the year. The parameters used to create the three listings are somewhat different and, therefore, taken together show how much Davis Polk is creating a dominant position.  Wachtel Lipton Rosen & Katz comes second in the Bloomberg (by volume) table with Latham & Watkins third. On its rankings by value of transactions, Mergermarket puts Latham & Watkins second and Skadden Arps third. The Thomson Reuters listing has the same order as Mergermarket. Thomson Reuters shows Davis Polk working on 12.1 per cent of deals, Latham & Watkins working on 11.3 per cent and Skadden working on 10.8 per cent.

Heinz deal

Davis Polk has been advising on the two deals which are the biggest so far in 2013 - the £28 billion sale of Heinz to Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital; and Comcast's $17 billion purchase of NBC Universal from General Electric.