US firms take top spots in European M&A

Simpson Thacher, Skadden Arps, Weil Gotshal and Latham & Watkins have taken the top four places in the Q1 2014 Thomson Reuters rankings for European M&A.

The market has increased in volume of deals by well over a third (37 per cent) in comparison with Q1 of 2013. Worldwide, the value rose 39 per cent. Freshfields came in 5th. Allen & Overy was 12th. DLA Piper, Linklaters and Clifford Chance made it into the top 25.

Global rankings

US firms have dominated the world rankings even more, taking all the top 12 posts. Skadden Arps comes top. Freshfields is the only non-US firm in the top 15, appearing in 13th place. Source: The Lawyer