Weil Gotshal & Manges made it to the top of 9fin’s European Restructuring & LME law firm league tables Q3 26 for completed deals in the first three quarters of the year.
And yet, on 28 October, the law firm announced plans to dissolve, a stunning move that capped the rapid downfall of one of Wall Street’s most storied corporate law firms.
The move was especially surprising given Weil’s continued high level of activity, as its position in the rankings shows. Over the first nine months of 2026 the law firm completed 12 engagements, sharing the top spot with Kirkland & Ellis. 9fin has reported on Weil’s unravelling here. Since spring, the restructuring team in London has seen a steady exodus of lawyers. The departures were even more dramatic in the US, eventually causing the unravelling of the entire firm. Yet Weil still took on 10 new engagements in the first three quarters, including one in Q3.
Among deals completed, Weil advised bondholders in the lender takeover of French business services company Atalian. It also advised lenders to Air Baltic, the Latvian airline that received DIP financing during a Chapter 11 process.
Looking at other law firms, Kirkland ranked at the top alongside Weil with 12 completed deals over the first nine months of the year. The firm advised the new money provider in Aston Martin, the luxury carmaker, over the summer and closed Accell, the Dutch bicycle company which entered bankruptcy in August.
Willkie ranked first for new mandates over the three quarters, having entered into 31 new deals. It started eight new deals in Q3 alone, also ranking first for new deals in the quarter. Milbank and Kirkland share the second rank for new deals with each having completed 23 deals in the first nine months of 2026.
Gibson Dunn came second for new deals in the recent quarter with seven new engagements. The law firm is advising the ad hoc group in Merlin Entertainment and was also given a mandate by lenders in Oxea earlier in the summer. Akin Gump and Kirkland & Ellis tied for third place in new mandates over the quarter with six mandates each.
The rankings are based on our own reporting and information provided by the firms at our request. We accepted deals that either began or closed in the first quarter or both (see more on criteria below).
League Tables
Completed mandates over Q3 26
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Criteria
In these league tables 9fin covers deals that involved a minimum of £/€50m of term debt, with mandates, conclusion dates, or both in Q3 26 and YTD Q3 26 in Europe. In addition, engagements should have contained a stressed element with the type of deal falling under one of the following categories: Liability Management Exercise, Out-of-Court Restructuring, Court-Supervised Restructuring, Stressed A&E, administration/liquidation.
For any inquiries, submissions and to participate in our future league tables, please get in touch with us at restructuring_submissions@9fin.com
