A surge in large public deals helped the likes of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Latham & Watkins and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton place highly in the rankings for M&A in the U.K. and Europe in 2020.

While the number of deals fell during 2020 to its lowest level since 2013, the total value of deals rose slightly on last year, thanks largely to multi-billion dollar public market transactions.