South: Shoosmiths corporate tops national deal rankings
National law firm Shoosmiths has topped Experian MarketIQ (Corpfin) 2016 UK & Ireland M&A league tables to become the UK’s leading legal adviser by deal volume.
In 2016 the firm acted on 183 disclosable deals in total, ahead of Gateley (177 deals), DLA Piper (142) and Irwin Mitchell (119).
Shoosmiths also took first place in London and in the South East ranking respectively. The firm leapt from 16th to fourth inScotland and held on to last year’s positions in the East (third), the Midlands (third) and North West (seventh), demonstrating its regional presence and national footprint.
Experian MarketIQ reported that the level of merger and acquisition activity in the UK held up well in 2016 despite a turbulent year, with unanticipated scenarios on the world stage such as the election of Donald Trump and the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.
Shoosmiths’ head of corporate, Chris Garnett, said: "Being crowned number one in this prestigious league table is a superb achievement. Such industry recognition is only made possible by the hard work our lawyers and support teams do every day for our clients.
"This recognition is the icing on the cake after another stellar year for our corporate team, which has again seen us post double-digit growth and build our offering across our existing locations while expanding in the North with the launch of our new Leeds office.
"2016 has been a momentous year in a number of ways but the unexpected Brexit vote and surprising outcome of the US presidential election do not appear to have had any negative impact on mid-market M&A activity in the UK in the short term. In the busiest year for deal volume since 2007 we are delighted to have increased our number of reported deals by 24% which is a clear indication that we have continued to grow our market share very successfully across the M&A, venture capital and private equity space."
