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 $2.8 billion and a deal count of nine SPACs. It should be noted that Ropes & Gray, like Kirkland, came out swinging in 2019, having only completed one legal assignment in all of 2018.
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Ranked by Volume
(All data is sort-able using the arrow keys located in the header cells)
FY 2019
| Rank | Law Firm | Volume ($mm) | Deal Count (Total) | Deal Count (Issuer's Counsel) | Deal Count (UW's Counsel) | Avg Size ($mm) | % Mkt Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EGS | 7,305.4 | 33 | 21 | 12 | 221.4 | 26.9% |
| 2 | Kirkland & Ellis LLP | 3,165.9 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 263.8 | 11.6% |
| 3 | Graubard Miller | 3,120.0 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 208.0 | 11.5% |
| 4 | Ropes & Gray LLP | 2,768.8 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 307.6 | 10.2% |
| 5 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP | 2,355.0 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 294.4 | 8.7% |
| 6 | Winston & Strawn LLP | 2,234.3 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 319.2 | 8.2% |
| 7 | Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP | 944.1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 314.7 | 3.5% |
| 8 | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP | 940.0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 470.0 | 3.5% |
| 9 | Loeb & Loeb LLP | 757.9 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 94.7 | 2.8% |
| 10 | Shearman & Sterling LLP | 738.8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 246.3 | 2.7% |
| 11 | Greenberg Traurig, LLP | 632.5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 210.8 | 2.3% |
| 12 | Vinson & Elkins LLP | 547.1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 273.6 | 2.0% |
| 13 | Ledgewood PC | 466.9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 233.5 | 1.7% |
| 14 | Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP | 330.5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 165.3 | 1.2% |
| 15 | Latham & Watkins LLP | 230.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 230.0 | 0.8% |
| 16 | Crowell & Moring, LLP | 172.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 172.5 | 0.6% |
| 17 | Schiff Hardin LLP | 172.5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 86.3 | 0.6% |
| 18 | Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC | 115.0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 57.5 | 0.4% |
| 19 | Mayer Brown LLP | 100.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0.4% |
| 20 | Becker & Poliakoff LLP | 57.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 57.5 | 0.2% |
| 21 | Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC | 46.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 46.0 | 0.2% |
FY 2018
| Rank | Law Firm | Volume ($mm) | Deal Count (Total) | Deal Count (Issuer's Counsel) | Deal Count (UW's Counsel) | Avg Size ($mm) | % Mkt Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EGS | 4,467.3 | 22 | 16 | 6 | 203.1 | 20.8% |
| 2 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP | 3,216.8 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 321.7 | 15.0% |
| 3 | Winston & Strawn LLP | 2,394.3 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 342.0 | 11.1% |
| 4 | Graubard Miller | 2,261.5 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 150.8 | 10.5% |
| 5 | Greenberg Traurig, LLP | 1,394.7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 199.2 | 6.5% |
| 6 | Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP | 1,252.5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 417.5 | 5.8% |
| 7 | Kirkland | 1,145.8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 286.4 | 5.3% |
| 8 | Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP | 740.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 370.0 | 3.4% |
| 9 | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP | 690.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 690.0 | 3.2% |
| 10 | Loeb & Loeb LLP | 579.4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 82.8 | 2.7% |
| 11 | Vinson & Elkins | 552.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 552.0 | 2.6% |
| 12 | Thompson & Knight LLP | 414.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 414.0 | 1.9% |
| 13 | Ropes & Gray | 400.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 400.0 | 1.9% |
| 14 | Weil Gotshal | 400.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 400.0 | 1.9% |
| 15 | Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP | 345.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 345.0 | 1.6% |
| 16 | Ledgewood | 345.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 345.0 | 1.6% |
| 17 | McDermott Will & Emery | 201.3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 201.3 | 0.9% |
| 18 | Venable LLP | 155.3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 155.3 | 0.7% |
| 19 | Schiff Hardin LLP | 133.3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66.6 | 0.6% |
| 20 | Fox Rothschild LLP | 125.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 125.0 | 0.6% |
| 21 | Holland & Knight, LLP | 115.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 115.0 | 0.5% |
| 22 | White and Williams LLP | 114.9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 114.9 | 0.5% |
| 23 | Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC | 46.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 46.0 | 0.2% |
Q4 2019
| Rank | Law Firm | Volume ($mm) | Deal Count (Total) | Deal Count (Issuer's Counsel) | Deal Count (UW's Counsel) | Avg Size ($mm) | % Mkt Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EGS | 1,978.8 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 197.9 | 29.3% |
| 2 | Graubard Miller | 1,066.0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 152.3 | 15.8% |
| 3 | Kirkland & Ellis LLP | 1,032.0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 258.0 | 15.3% |
| 4 | Ropes & Gray LLP | 645.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 322.5 | 9.5% |
| 5 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP | 616.3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 308.1 | 9.1% |
| 6 | Winston & Strawn LLP | 431.3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 215.6 | 6.4% |
| 7 | Loeb & Loeb LLP | 380.0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 190.0 | 5.6% |
| 8 | Ledgewood PC | 316.3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 316.3 | 4.7% |
| 9 | Mayer Brown LLP | 100.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 100.0 | 1.5% |
| 10 | Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP | 80.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 80.5 | 1.2% |
| 11 | Schiff Hardin LLP | 57.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 57.5 | 0.9% |
| 12 | Becker & Poliakoff LLP | 57.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 57.5 | 0.9% |
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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