Herbert Smith Freehills and Cassels Brock & Blackwell emerged as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the metals and mining sector during the first three quarters of 2025 (Q1–Q3 2025) in terms of value and volume, respectively.
According to GlobalData’s latest league table, Herbert Smith Freehills – now Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer – secured its top position by advising on deals worth $5.8bn. Cassels Brock & Blackwell led in volume by advising on 16 deals.
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GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “The total number of deals advised by Cassels Brock & Blackwell remained mostly at the same level during Q1–Q3 2025 compared to Q1–Q3 2024. However, its ranking by volume improved from the second position to the top spot. Cassels Brock & Blackwell also occupied the second position by value during Q1–Q3 2025.
“Meanwhile, there was more than a three-fold year-on-year jump in the total value of deals advised by Herbert Smith Freehills during the same period due to involvement in some big-ticket deals. Resultantly, its ranking by value also jumped from 28th position during Q1–Q3 2024 to the top position during Q1–Q3 2025. It is noteworthy that three of the five deals advised by Herbert Smith Freehills during Q1–Q3 2025 were billion-dollar deals. It also held the fifth position by volume during Q1–Q3 2025.”
Cassels Brock & Blackwell also ranked second by value, advising on $5.6bn (C$7.85bn) worth of deals. Following were Clayton UTZ with $5.5bn, Blake Cassels & Graydon with $5.4bn and King & Wood Mallesons with $5.3bn.
In terms of volume, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin took the second spot. Although it also advised on 16 deals, the total deal value was less than Cassels. It was followed by Blake Cassels & Graydon with 11 deals, McCarthy Tetrault with six and Herbert Smith Freehills with five.
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By GlobalDataGlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available in the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
