The Brief:
Mallesons takes the volume crown in 9M26 with A$100bn across 70 deals, while HSF Kramer leads on deal count with 87 deals.
Australasian deal volume jumped 62.4% to A$218bn, even as deal count fell to 774.
Mallesons and HSF Kramer pull well clear of the pack, while the average Australasian deal doubles in size.
Deal Volume
Mallesons took the top spot by volume in Mergermarket’s Australasia 9M26 League Tables. It posted A$100.08bn across 70 deals, up 192.2% on 9M25’s A$34.25bn.
That means Mallesons advised on deals worth 45.9% of total Australasian deal volume, almost half the market. It’s the second straight table Mallesons has led on volume, after topping the 1H26 Mergermarket rankings.
HSF Kramer slipped from 1st to 2nd with A$88.29bn across 87 deals, up 155.7%. The gap to 3rd is big. Ashurst Perkins Coie posted A$41.90bn across 63 deals, less than half of Mallesons’ tally.
Webber Wentzel was the big mover, jumping from 18th to 4th with A$36.71bn off a single deal.
Allens (A$33.90bn) and Gilbert + Tobin (A$33.59bn) finished neck and neck in 5th and 6th. G+T nearly doubled its volume, up 91.5%.
Of the local top tiers, only Clayton Utz went backwards. It dropped from 6th to 16th with A$7.99bn, down 35.4%.
Offshore firms took 11 of the top 20 spots, including Brazil’s Mattos Filho and Pinheiro Neto.
Here’s the top 20 by volume:
9M26 | 9M25 | Law Firm | Deal Volume (A$)* | % Volume Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Mallesons | $100.08bn | +192.2% |
2 | 1 | HSF Kramer | $88.29bn | +155.7% |
3 | 3 | Ashurst Perkins Coie | $41.90bn | +45.8% |
4 | 18 | Webber Wentzel | $36.71bn | +527.2% |
5 | 4 | Allens | $33.90bn | +28.7% |
6 | 5 | Gilbert + Tobin | $33.59bn | +91.5% |
7 | 7 | MinterEllison | $19.36bn | +58.4% |
8 | 8 | Corrs Chambers Westgarth | $17.05bn | +51.0% |
9 | 9 | Chapman Tripp | $16.70bn | +60.8% |
10 | 41 | Latham & Watkins | $15.44bn | +470.2% |
11 | 29 | Sidley Austin | $13.62bn | +243.7% |
12 | - | Davis Polk & Wardwell | $12.77bn | - |
13 | 42 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | $9.54bn | +258.2% |
14 | 166 | Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton | $8.40bn | - |
15 | - | Mattos Filho | $8.20bn | - |
16 | 6 | Clayton Utz | $7.99bn | -35.4% |
17 | 65 | Pinheiro Neto Advogados | $7.97bn | +919.1% |
18 | 16 | Linklaters | $7.73bn | +16.5% |
19 | - | Bredin Prat SAS | $7.39bn | - |
20 | 141 | Willkie Farr & Gallagher | $7.17bn | +20,884.3% |
*USD-AUD exchange rate as at 21 October 2026
Deal Count
HSF Kramer topped the count table on 87 deals, up 10 and climbing from 4th.
Last year’s #1 Thomsons slipped to 2nd on 74 deals, keeping it ahead of Mallesons, which fell from 2nd to 3rd on 70 deals.
Corrs Chambers Westgarth placed 4th on 67 deals, with Ashurst Perkins Coie 5th on 63.
MinterEllison had the roughest run. It fell from 2nd to 9th, with its deal count halving from 80 to 39.
Some mid-tiers had a stronger showing. Maddocks jumped from 18th to 11th (+10) and Johnson Winter Slattery from 18th to 12th (+9).
The full count table:
9M26 | 9M25 | Law Firm | Deal Count | Count Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | HSF Kramer | 87 | +10 |
2 | 1 | Thomsons | 74 | -8 |
3 | 2 | Mallesons | 70 | -10 |
4 | 5 | Corrs Chambers Westgarth | 67 | +3 |
5 | 6 | Ashurst Perkins Coie | 63 | +3 |
6 | 10 | Gilbert + Tobin | 57 | +7 |
7 | 7 | Allens | 48 | -10 |
8 | 8 | Hamilton Locke | 42 | -12 |
9 | 2 | MinterEllison | 39 | -41 |
10 | 9 | HWL Ebsworth Lawyers | 38 | -14 |
11 | 18 | Maddocks | 35 | +10 |
12 | 18 | Johnson Winter Slattery | 34 | +9 |
13 | 18 | Talbot Sayer Lawyers | 24 | -1 |
14 | 16 | Clayton Utz | 23 | -6 |
15= | 24 | Chapman Tripp | 18 | - |
15= | 26 | Dentons | 18 | +5 |
17 | 11 | DLA Piper | 17 | -32 |
18= | 15 | Baker McKenzie | 15 | -15 |
18= | 22 | Norton Rose Fulbright | 15 | -8 |
18= | 18 | Gadens | 15 | -10 |
The bigger picture
Total Australasian deal volume hit A$218bn across 774 deals, up from A$134bn across 986 deals in 9M25. That means the average deal more than doubled in size, from roughly A$136m in 9M25 to A$282m.
Australasia also outpaced the global market. Global deal volume rose 17.2% to A$5.8tn. The local market grew 62.4%.
Source: Mergermarket