Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison has ranked first by deal value and CMS by deal volume among legal advisers for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the construction sector during the first three quarters of 2025, according to research from GlobalData.

The analysis, based on GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database, shows Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison advised on transactions totalling $19.9bn.

CMS led by the number of deals, providing services on 22 transactions.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was the top adviser by value during Q1-Q3 2024 and retained its leadership position by this metric during Q1-Q3 2025.

“Interestingly, the total value of deals advised by it mostly remained at the same level during Q1-Q3 2025 compared to Q1-Q3 2024. Apart from leading by value, the American multinational white-shoe law firm also occupied the sixth position by volume during Q1-Q3 2025.

“Meanwhile, CMS’ ranking by volume improved from the second position to the top position despite registering a year-on-year decline in the total number of deals advised by it.”

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz secured the second spot in terms of deal value, advising on $19.8bn worth of transactions.

White & Case followed with $18.7bn, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $18.5bn and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with $16.2bn in advised deal value for the same period.

In terms of volume, Kirkland & Ellis came in second with 20 deals, followed by Baker McKenzie with 19 deals.

White & Case and Latham & Watkins each advised on 13 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 also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.