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Allen & Overy (A&O) gained two new FTSE 100 clients to reach joint second place with Linklaters, behind Slaughter and May, in the latest quarterly adviser rankings.

A&O's list of FTSE 100 clients grew to 28 in the three months to 6 August, while Linklaters added one client to retain its place.

Top5 Advisers FTSE100 Aug 2016Linklaters also reached second place in the FTSE 250 adviser rankings after gaining two clients, pushing Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – whose roster fell by two – into third.

The rankings, compiled by Adviser Rankings in association with audit firm Crowe Clark Whitehill, show that Slaughters retained the the top slot in the FTSE 100 with 34 clients, without any new additions. The firm also continued to lead the way in terms of total number of stockmarket clients, which stood at 107, and total number of FTSE 250 clients at 36, despite both rosters shrinking by two clients.

Top5 Advisers FTSE250 Aug 2016Pinsent Masons retained second place in the all-stockmarket table, adding three clients during the quarter; it also stayed joint top in the AIM ranking table, tied with Gowling WLG on 55 clients.

Other highlights include Clifford Chance rising from 19th to 15th place in the total stock market ranking and from ninth to sixth place in the FTSE 250. In both cases, the firm added four new clients. In addition, Pinsents climbed to the top of the oil and gas ranking table, gaining four clients to move to 14 in total, pushing Memery Crystal into second place.

Commenting on market conditions, Slaughters head of corporate Andy Ryde said the firm's transactional practices are still feeling the effects of the UK's vote to leave the European Union (EU) in late June. "There has been a Brexit impact. M&A volumes have suffered through the whole calendar year after the hot streak in 2015. The deal lethargy we saw in the first half has continued since the Brexit vote."

However, he points to some exceptions such as Softbank's £24bn takeover of UK smartphone chip designer ARM, announced in July. "We are now feeling a return in business confidence, which offers encouragement." The deal saw a handful of firms gain roles, with Slaughters acting for ARM alongside Davis Polk & Wardwell and Morrison & Foerster taking the lead for Softbank alongside Freshfields.

Linklaters corporate partner Roger Barron added that despite the immediate "shock and uncertainty" after the UK voted to leave the EU on 23 June, which caused deals to pause, "the overwhelming majority" of those deals put on ice have gone ahead.

A handful of other UK takeovers agreed since the Brexit vote have provided some optimism. In July, Pinsents acted for US cinema company AMC on its acquisition of cinema chain Odeon and UCI for $1bn from private equity firm Terra Firma. The same month, Steinhoff snapped up Poundland for £597m. Linklaters acted for the South African homeware conglomerate, while Freshfields advised Poundland.

However, there have been a few casualties. William Hill turned down a £3.6bn bid for the company from 888 Holdings and Rank Group, saying that the offer significantly undervalued the bookmaker. Slaughters acted for William Hill, while A&O advised 888 and Norton Rose Fulbright acted for Rank.