Q4 & FY 2019 SPAC IPO Legal League Tables
by Kristi Marvin on 2019-12-27 at 10:53am

Below are the recently released Q4 & Full Year 2019 SPAC IPO Legal League Tables

For Full Year (FY) 2019, Ellenoff Grossman & Schole (“EGS”), once again, dominated the SPAC IPO Legal League tables with an astounding 33 legal assignments. That means EGS was the counsel on more than half of the 59 SPACs to IPO this year.  Furthermore, EGS’s Total Deal Volume was $7.3 billion, which accounts for approximately 27% of the 2019 SPAC IPO market share.  Compared to EGS’s 22 SPAC legal assignments in 2018, they increased their deal count by 50% in 2019. A tremendous effort.

Taking the number two spot for the year is Kirkland and Ellis, which climbed five places from #7 in 2018.  Kirkland was counsel on 12 SPACs in 2019, four as Issuer’s Counsel and eight as Underwriters Counsel, for an 11.6% market share.  Kirkland made a strong push in 2019 and managed to triple their deal count over 2018’s four SPAC legal assignments. Interestingly, Kirkland was counsel to only one SPAC in 2017, so the fact that they managed to rank #2 within two years is highly notable.

Graubard Miller, which is consistently ranked near the top, was #3 based on total deal volume of $3.1 billion and 15 SPAC legal assignments.  However, Ropes & Gray is nipping at their heals at #4, with $2.8 billion and a deal count of nine SPACs.  It should be noted that Ropes & Gray, like Kirkland, came out swinging in 2019, having only completed one legal assignment in all of 2018.

(continued below…)

Ranked by Volume

(All data is sort-able using the arrow keys located in the header cells)

FY 2019

RankLaw FirmVolume
($mm)
Deal
Count
(Total)
Deal
Count
(Issuer's
Counsel)
Deal
Count
(UW's
Counsel)
Avg
Size
($mm)
%
Mkt
Share
1EGS7,305.4332112221.426.9%
2Kirkland & Ellis LLP3,165.91248263.811.6%
3Graubard Miller3,120.01587208.011.5%
4Ropes & Gray LLP2,768.8927307.610.2%
5Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP2,355.0817294.48.7%
6Winston & Strawn LLP2,234.3743319.28.2%
7Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP944.1312314.73.5%
8Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP940.0220470.03.5%
9Loeb & Loeb LLP757.985394.72.8%
10Shearman & Sterling LLP738.8303246.32.7%
11Greenberg Traurig, LLP632.5321210.82.3%
12Vinson & Elkins LLP547.1220273.62.0%
13Ledgewood PC466.9220233.51.7%
14Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP330.5220165.31.2%
15Latham & Watkins LLP230.0110230.00.8%
16Crowell & Moring, LLP172.5110172.50.6%
17Schiff Hardin LLP172.520286.30.6%
18Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC115.020257.50.4%
19Mayer Brown LLP100.0101100.00.4%
20Becker & Poliakoff LLP57.511057.50.2%
21Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC46.010146.00.2%

FY 2018

RankLaw FirmVolume
($mm)
Deal
Count
(Total)
Deal
Count
(Issuer's
Counsel)
Deal
Count
(UW's
Counsel)
Avg
Size
($mm)
%
Mkt
Share
1EGS4,467.322166203.120.8%
2Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP3,216.81019321.715.0%
3Winston & Strawn LLP2,394.3743342.011.1%
4Graubard Miller2,261.515510150.810.5%
5Greenberg Traurig, LLP1,394.7752199.26.5%
6Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP1,252.5303417.55.8%
7Kirkland1,145.8422286.45.3%
8Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP740.0211370.03.4%
9Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP690.0110690.03.2%
10Loeb & Loeb LLP579.473482.82.7%
11Vinson & Elkins552.0110552.02.6%
12Thompson & Knight LLP414.0110414.01.9%
13Ropes & Gray400.0101400.01.9%
14Weil Gotshal400.0110400.01.9%
15Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP345.0110345.01.6%
16Ledgewood345.0110345.01.6%
17McDermott Will & Emery201.3101201.30.9%
18Venable LLP155.3110155.30.7%
19Schiff Hardin LLP133.320266.60.6%
20Fox Rothschild LLP125.0110125.00.6%
21Holland & Knight, LLP115.0101115.00.5%
22White and Williams LLP114.9110114.90.5%
23Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC46.010146.00.2%

Q4 2019

RankLaw FirmVolume
($mm)
Deal
Count
(Total)
Deal
Count
(Issuer's
Counsel)
Deal
Count
(UW's
Counsel)
Avg
Size
($mm)
%
Mkt
Share
1EGS1,978.81091197.929.3%
2Graubard Miller1,066.0734152.315.8%
3Kirkland & Ellis LLP1,032.0413258.015.3%
4Ropes & Gray LLP645.0211322.59.5%
5Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP616.3202308.19.1%
6Winston & Strawn LLP431.3202215.66.4%
7Loeb & Loeb LLP380.0202190.05.6%
8Ledgewood PC316.3110316.34.7%
9Mayer Brown LLP100.0101100.01.5%
10Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP80.511080.51.2%
11Schiff Hardin LLP57.510157.50.9%
12Becker & Poliakoff LLP57.511057.50.9%

Source: SPACInsider, Ranked by volume

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (“Skadden”) and Winston & Strawn (“Winston”) ranked #5 and #6, respectively, to round out the group of leaders in the Legal League Tables.  Both Skadden and Winston are regular rankers at the top of the League and as you can see, the numbers for Ropes & Gray, Skadden and Winston are all very close.  It’s a tight field.

It should be noted too that Loeb & Loeb, had eight legal assignments, which ties them at fifth with Skadden based on deal count.  Also a big effort.  However, Loeb’s average deal size is smaller, at $94.7 million, hence the difference in dollar rank.

All told, 2019 was a very active year for SPACs with lots of movement within the rankings.  And just like the Underwriters League, things have gotten a lot more competitive in an active SPAC market.  That should carry over into 2020, so it will be interesting to see where the rankings wind up at the half year mark.  EGS’s numbers are tough to beat, but it looks like we have more than a few law firms that will give them some real competition.

You can find all of the published League Tables by clicking here.

 

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