Who's worked on the biggest deals

M & A

£2.18 billion

Gala

Coral Eurobet

Ashurst, John Watson, UK

Latham & Watkins, UK

M & A

$2.8 billion

Gas Natural SDG SA

Endesa SA

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Javier Gazulla and Maria Mera, Spain

Clifford Chance, Jose Ignacio Jimenez-Blanco, Spain

M & A

$1.3 billion

St. Jude Medical

Advanced Neuromodulation Systems

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Stephen Tolles, US

Baker Botts, Steve Marcus and James Raborn, US

M & A

$1 billion

Golden Gate Capital

Geac Computer

Borden Ladner Gervais, Larissa Tkachenko, Canada

Blake, Cassels and Graydon, Jeffrey Trossman

Paul Stepak, US, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Sally Thurston and Ben Handler, US

M & A

$9.2 billion offer

Barrick Gold Corporation bid

Placer Dome

Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Michael Schler, Sharon Mendelson, US

M & A

$2 billion

NSG

Pilkington

Allen & Overy, UK

Slaughter and May, Richard Carson, UK

M & A

Undisclosed

Southern Cross, the nursing home operator owned by Blackstone

Ashbourne Homes

Clifford Chance, UK

Simmons & Simmons, Nick Cronkshaw, Darren Oswick, UK

M & A

€1.035 billion ($1.2 billion)

Telenor

Vodafone, Sweden

Allen & Overy, Sweden

Linklaters, Mats Anderson, Odile Fallenius, Sweden

M & A

$3.2 billion

Allergan

Inamed

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Andrew Bogen, US

Morrison & Foerster, Raj Tanden, US

M & A

Undisclosed

IBM

Collation

Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Christian Brause, US

Fenwick & West, US

M & A

€1.85 billion ($2.168 billion)

Blackstone Group International and Lion Capital LLP

European Beverages division of Cadbury Schweppes (CSEB)

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, UK

Slaughter and May, Sarah Luder, UK

M & A

$6.9 billion

Cisco Systems

Scientific-Atlanta

Fenwick & West, Ron Schrotenboer, Timothy Fitzgibbon, US

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, US

M & A

$1.1 billion

Deutsche Bahn

The Brink's company's BAX Global operating unit

Shearman & Sterling, Germany

Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Stephen Gordon, US

M & A

Undisclosed

Link Theory Holdings

Schleicher Holding GmbH, the parent company of Rosner GmbH & Co. Avantgardistische Mode, Ingolstadt, Germany

Haarman & Hemmelrath, Jürgen Fahrenberg and Dr Florian Eisele, Germany

Honert Funke Maute Neumayer, Germany

M & A

Undisclosed

Cinven Funds

AlticeOne

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Antoine Colonna d'Istria and Vincent Daniel-Mayeur, Belgium

JeantetAssociés, Belgium

M & A

$6.8 billion

Swiss Re

GE Insurance Solutions

Herbert Smith, Howard Murray, Lindsay J'Afari-Pak, Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe, Sven-Christian Witt

M & A

$25 billion

Boston Scientific

Guidant

Shearman & Sterling, Germany

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Germany