Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom are once again among the top five M&A legal advisers by announced deal value, according to data on the first half of 2019 compiled by Refinitiv, which reported a slowdown in global deals even as U.S. M&A hit all-time high.

Wachtell, which finished 2018 ranked eighth by deal value, shot up to number one so far in 2019 with an estimated $446 billion in M&A work.