The Corporate Deal Tracker’s first-half firm rankings made one thing clear: a handful of law firms are dominating M&A from every angle, whether the deal is in Houston, Silicon Valley or halfway around the world (though not Nova Scotia, as of yet).
Last week, The Texas Lawbook focused on the “Fab Five” institutions and how their Texas offices have become the default destination for buyers and sellers looking for complex deal expertise. This time we’re zooming in on the individual Texas lawyers that drove those numbers: the lawyers whose first-half stat lines look a lot like MVP and All‑Star ballots.
New data from The Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker for January through June 2026 identifies a small cadre of Texas‑based M&A lawyers who clearly stand apart from the pack. But that only tells part of the story as the leaderboards are a cross-section of activity, from smaller to core middle-market transactions to megadeals.
For Texas‑led principal deal count — where lawyers represent buyers, sellers and targets — three lawyers sit at the top with 22 deals apiece: Alain Dermarkar of A&O Shearman in Dallas, Thomas Laughlin of Kirkland & Ellis in Dallas and Kevin Henderson of SMB Law Group in Coppell.
Rounding out the top five is A&O Shearman’s Kyle Park in Dallas with 19 Texas‑led principal-represented deals and Gibson Dunn’s Robert Little in Dallas, whose 12 deals carry an extraordinary aggregate value that dwarfs the rest of the leaderboard thanks to SpaceX M&A. Taken together, they form the core of a first‑half “starting lineup” of Texas dealmakers, so to speak.
M&A All-Stars for Latham & Watkins, Haynes Boone, Baker Botts, Norton Rose, Willkie, Sidley and Weil are also in the top rankings for volume.
When the focus shifts from volume to value, the picture sharpens even further. On the Texas‑led principal side, Little’s 12 deals add up to $329.3 billion in reported transaction value. Houston‑based Kirkland partners Zach Savrick and Andrew Calder each appear near the top of the value rankings with a smaller number of deals but with monster values, and Gibson Dunn Houston partner Hillary Holmes adds three deals totaling nearly $60 billion to the mix.
M&A All-Stars for V&E, Hunton AK, Skadden, Baker Botts, Simpson Thacher, A&O Shearman, Akin and DLA Piper are also in the top rankings for value.
The result is a clear first‑half portrait of Texas lawyer-involved M&A from January through June: Dallas area lawyers drove the bulk of principal‑side deal volume at the top of the leaderboard, bolstered by Henderson; Houston and Austin partners anchored many of the biggest and most complex deals.
