2021 Corporate Deal Tracker: Ranking for All The Deals

The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker identifies two ways law firms are involved in M&A activity: (1) As the lead law firm representing the buyers or the sellers and (2) law firms that represent a third party, such as an investment bank, financial advisor or conflicts committee. The legal advisors for the buyers and sellers make the big bucks by working the most billable hours, but those representing the third parties take home a good chunk of change, too. Last week, The Lawbook unveiled the Corporate Deal Tracker’s rankings for law firms whose Texas lawyers led mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures during the first three quarters of 2021. You can see that article here. Today, The Lawbook reports on the law firms that had lawyers from their Texas offices who did significant work on all transactions, including those in which the Texas lawyers were not the lead advisors for the buyers or sellers. We refer to this category as “non-leads.” A key reason for a nonlead role is that a firm’s Texas office may have lawyers with specific expertise or experience in a specific kind of transaction and is brought in by firm lawyers in different offices to help — an increasingly familiar Kirkland & Ellis,…