Latham Leads Europe & MENA Legal Market in 2025 with Surge in M&A Deal Volume

Latham & Watkins’ recent achievements at the Mergermarket M&A Awards 2025 reflect both true advisory strength and favorable market conditions that have combined to elevate performance. Their triple win—European, UK, and MENA Legal Adviser of the Year—shows regional breadth and consistent deal flow across key jurisdictions. These awards are based not just on headline deals but on strategic advisory work and the firm’s presence in both value and volume metrics in Mergermarket’s league tables.

The 64.3% year-over-year rise in deal volumes over the first nine months of 2025 in Europe marks an exceptional rebound and one that boosts law firms positioned to advise on the megadeals and cross-border transactions that are dominating the landscape. Latham’s leading position during that period confirms its ability to capture deal flow across sectors and geographies at scale.

However, while Latham’s performance is formidable, Freshfields still retains the edge in total deal value across Europe, with approximately US$218 billion versus Latham’s US$199 billion. The gap is not vast, but it suggests that Freshfields is capturing a slightly higher average deal value, an important nuance for clients seeking size and impact in advisory.

Strategically, these results point to a few implications for law firms, financial advisors, and clients:

• Clients with international deal needs—especially across Europe, the UK, and the Middle East & North Africa—can look to Latham as a go-to adviser. Their awards indicate trust in managing complexity and regional regulatory differences.
• Latham must maintain momentum in deal quality—mega-deals, regulatory complexity, cross-border work—as the market begins to pivot to 2026. The league table wins are powerful, but future value creation will depend on not just volume but strategic sector leadership (e.g., tech, energy transition, AI).
• Freshfields’ leading deal value suggests that while Latham excels in volume, there are clients for whom deal size and marquee mandates still lean toward other elite firms. Latham may need to identify and compete more aggressively in the largest deal segments.
• Broader market signals—such as the uptick in Europe’s M&A value, dominance of mega-deals, and recovering activity—favor firms that can scale, specialize in cross-border regulatory and antitrust issues, and deploy local presence with global capability. Latham appears to satisfy those criteria.

Open questions remain. For instance, how sustainable is the recent surge in deal volumes given headwinds—interest rates, geopolitical risk, regulatory scrutiny? Also, firstly, will Latham be able to convert its volume dominance into consistent top deal values in 2026? Secondly, how much does sector specialization (e.g., tech, energy, life sciences) matter in determining which firms lead value vs. volume?