Skadden secured top deals in telecoms and media to regain the top spot it held at the end of 2009. However, Skadden’s market share did decrease by more than 8 percentage points to 12.8 percent since the first half of 2009.
Among Skadden’s deals was the second-largest of the six-month period, U.S. phone operator CenturyLink’s $22 billion acquisition of Quest Communications International Inc., according to a Reuters press release.
Skadden is also representing News Corp’s proposed $13.7 billion bid for British satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton jumped to 2nd from 17th place for the first half of the year after advising on 57 deals worth $111 billion.
Jones Day had the heaviest volume with 175 transactions worth $50.8 billion.
The number of global deals rose 3.8 percent from the first half of last year, while their value jumped 9.4 percent, taking the total to $1.1 trillion — the strongest opening six month period for global deals since 2008.