Ranking The Top M&A Biglaw Dealmakers In America (2023)
How many lawyers from your firm were able to clinch a spot in the prestigious M&A dealmaker ranking?
(Image via Getty)
When it comes to dealmaking in the M&A world, Biglaw firms often rely upon their top partners to make it rain. Some of these partners are simply superstars — they don’t stop at making it rain, they make it pour. So, which lawyers are leading the way for their firms? Thanks to the recently released Mergerlinks ranking, we now have that information.
Mergerlinks is a London-based company that provides financial data as well as deal attorney profiles, including some of their metrics. The company created the rankings based on total value of the deals led by lawyers in North America as well as lawyers internationally.
Without further ado, these are the top M&A lawyers in North America:
- Scott Barshay / Paul Weiss / ~$121.6 billion deal value
- Melissa Sawyer / Sullivan & Cromwell / ~$79.5 billion deal value
- Louis L. Goldberg / Davis Polk / ~$70 billion deal value
- Jeffrey Chapman / Gibson Dunn / ~$65.9 billion deal value
- Matthew G. Hurd / Sullivan & Cromwell / ~$60.6 billion deal value
- Edward D. Herlihy / Wachtell / ~$50.2 billion deal value
- Alan Klein / Simpson Thacher / ~$43.8 billion deal value
- Daniel E. Wolf / Kirkland / ~$37.8 billion deal value
- Adam Emmerich / Wachtell / ~$37.6 billion deal value
- Andrew Brownstein / Wachtell / ~$33.5 billion deal value
As noted by the American Lawyer, due to a lack of gender diversity within the top North America dealmakers ranking, Mergerlinks also created a ranking for the top female M&A dealmakers in North America, based on not just the women leading the deal, but also the women serving as second chair or doing the most work on the deal. These are the top female M&A lawyers in North America:
- Karessa Cain / Wachtell / ~$84.9 billion deal value
- Melissa Sawyer / Sullivan & Cromwell / ~$79.5 billion deal value
- Shanu Bajaj / Davis Polk / ~$75.7 billion deal value
- Sarah Solum / Freshfields / ~$51.1 billion deal value
- Elizabeth Cooper / Simpson Thacher / ~$18.4 billion deal value
- Ingrid Rechtin / Covington / ~$17.9 billion deal value
- Audra D. Cohen / Sullivan & Cromwell / ~$16.3 billion deal value
- Deborah Birnbach / Goodwin / ~$15.8 billion deal value
- Laura Knoll / Skadden / ~$15.8 billion deal value
- Taurie M. Zeitzer / Paul Weiss / ~$14.5 billion deal value
Congrats to everyone who made the cut for the Mergerlinks ranking!
Which M&A Attorneys Drove the Most Business as Deal Leads? [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
