Baker McKenzie topped the charts of law firms working on consumer M&A in the first quarter, new data shows.
According to GlobalData figures, Baker McKenzie worked on the most consumer deals in the first quarter of the year, advising on nine.
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The US firm was hired by Italian plant-based dairy alternatives group The Bridge to work on the sale of a majority stake in the business to asset manager Ambienta.
GlobalData, Just Food’s parent, also ranks law firms by the value of deals.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson – which ranked ninth when measuring the number of transactions – led the league table on deal value due to its work on the blockbuster transaction in the food sector between McCormick & Co. and Unilever.
Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, said: “Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, despite advising on much lesser number of deals, managed to lead by value in Q1 2026.
“The involvement in the $44.8bn deal for the merger of Unilever’s foods business with McCormick played a pivotal role in Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson securing the top spot by value. In fact, the next five advisers in the value ranking chart were also involved in this high-value deal.”
When ranked by the number of deals, Ropes & Gray and Kirkland & Ellis were joint second after each working on seven transactions in the opening three months of the year.
Kirkland & Ellis advised investment firm Banks Group on its acquisition of a majority stake in US-based wellness shots maker So Good So You.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of sources including company websites and advisory firm websites. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from advisers.
