It will come as no surprise to most deal-doers that top-level European M&A remains firmly in the hands of the leading trio of magic circle firms.

But Legal Week's primary adviser tables – which strip out secondary roles such as advising banks and financial institutions from Mergermarket statistics on Europe's 200 biggest deals of 2006 – show how big the gap opened up by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Clifford Chance (CC) has become.

As with the same table for 2005, Freshfields advised on almost one in four of Europe's largest deals while, between them, the trio took 110 roles on the 200 deals. Freshfields' lead comes despite having advised on only two of the five biggest deals of the year. But its all-round performance has placed it well above its nearest rival.

Even Slaughter and May's former corporate head, Nigel Boardman, commented: "I am not surprised to see Freshfields at the top."

And while Freshfields' substantial lead over Linklaters is likely to raise some concern at Silk Street, Linklaters has also had a strong year. Linklaters also managed a 38% increase by value to overtake CC and move into second place.

Linklaters' Charlie Jacobs commented: "It was a very good year for M&A last year and the big cross-border deals put Linklaters, Freshfields and CC in a good position because of our big European presences."

Traditional upper mid-market City firms such as Macfarlanes, Lovells, SJ Berwin and Travers Smith failed to make the top 20.

Cutting out secondary advisers typically hits the position of US firms, which often enjoy inflated rankings from securities roles. However, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's fourth place was lifted considerably by Mittal's £21.5bn takeover of Arcelor. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Shearman & Sterling also found themselves in strong positions. Despite losing several high-profile M&A partners from its London office, Shearman managed to finish ninth by value, advising on nine deals worth a total of £47.1bn.

London corporate head Peter King commented: "I am pleasantly surprised. Last year was not the best we have ever had in London, but this shows how strong we are across a range of different geographies."

Independent firms such as France's Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier and Spain's Perez-Llorca also find themselves jumping up the rankings, thanks to big-ticket bids in their local markets. Perez-Llorca climbed into the top 20 by value with lead roles on just four deals, including E.ON's £38bn bid for Endesa early last year.

Italian banking consolidation helped local independent firms Bonelli Erede Pappalardo and Pedersoli rank in the top 20, coming in at 14 and 15 respectively.