It was a good year for London's big four in the key M&A markets, no doubt, but 2007′s wildly uneven corporate market also drew a strong performance from firms such as Eversheds and Pinsent Masons.

Echoing its market-leading performance in Legal Week's primary adviser tables, which track lead corporate roles on Europe's largest deals, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer topped the full tables for European M&A, according to recently-released research from Mergermarket.

The ranking, a key indicator of transactional strength for London's top firms, shows the firm ousting Clifford Chance (CC) in the final quarter to act on 282 deals worth €482.8bn (£360bn). CC – which topped the third-quarter rankings – slipped to second, advising on 292 deals worth a combined total of €464.7bn (£346bn).

Magic circle rival Allen & Overy (A&O) climbed to third place by value, acting on 271 deals worth €423bn (£314.9bn), while a relatively quiet fourth quarter saw Linklaters slip to fourth, having advised on 280 deals worth €419bn (£312bn).

The four firms dominated the volume and value tables – scoring far higher than rivals in both the City and overseas.

A number of lapsed mega-bids will have affected the Mergermarket rankings. For example, Freshfields took credit for 2007′s largest announced deal – Porsche's €75.6bn (£56.7bn) stake in Volkswagen, while a myriad of firms, including CC, gained in the rankings through their role in Barclays' failed €67.5bn (£50.6bn) bid for ABN Amro.

Freshfields corporate partner Mark Rawlinson said: "We had a fantastic 2007 and, worldwide, worked on more than 360 M&A transactions during the year, of which four out of five were cross-border. It is year-on-year consistency that everyone is aiming for. There is a lot of luck involved – luck in having active clients, luck in getting the deal and luck that you are not conflicted."

According to the full year-end tables, all four City firms advised on more than 270 deals apiece in 2007, with each hitting a combined deal value of more than €400bn (£304bn). The results are significantly higher than that of their nearest rivals by both value and volume.

Sullivan & Cromwell came closest by value, acting on €346bn (£260bn) worth of deals, while DLA Piper was the nearest competitor by volume with roles on 239 ranked transactions.

The differences were wider still lower down the rankings. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Herbert Smith, Shearman & Sterling and Debevoise & Plimpton all make the full Mergermarket top 10 by value rankings at the expense of European independents such as NautaDutilh, which made the primary adviser table thanks to roles on deals including the ABN takeover.

Commenting on the rankings of the US firms in European M&A, A&O corporate partner Jeremy Parr said: "I almost look at the Americans as one competitor. There are always some in the tables but who it is tends to vary as they do not tend to have the same consistency year on year."

While the City's four biggest firms dominated the UK M&A market with Freshfields again topping the tables with roles on 112 deals, a wider group of firms feature in Mergermarket's UK rankings by volume.

DLA Piper acted on more UK deals than any other firm with instructions on 174 transactions. Meanwhile, national leaders Eversheds, Pinsents and Addleshaw Goddard also feature in the top 10. Eversheds was the highest placed, beating A&O, Freshfields and Slaughter and May by acting on 125 deals.

Similarly, Mergermarket's European top 10 by volume table includes firms such as DLA Piper, Baker & McKenzie and CMS.

Mergermarket's ranking of advisers on global M&A deals show UK firms have significantly jumped up the tables. By value Sullivan and Skadden came top with $833bn (£425bn) and $726bn (£371bn) of deals respectively. Freshfields, CC, A&O and Linklaters then follow the pair with all bar Linklaters improving their performance on last year. By volume, CC held onto second place below Latham & Watkins while Freshfields and A&O improved last year's showing to be placed fifth and sixth respectively.

For private equity, which played a huge part in deal activity in 2007, CC topped the European tables by both value and volume acting on 55 deals worth $77.7bn (£39.7bn). Outside the magic circle, firms including Macfarlanes, SJ Berwin and Lovells scored highly.