Ashurst lawyers have dominated the first ever associate M&A league with the top 10 London firm’s Nick Bryans taking the top spot in the three-year rankings.

Mergermarket research, produced especially for Legal Week, shows nine Ashurst assistants and associates named in the top 20 rankings for volume, with Bryans acting on 15 ranked UK deals worth a total value of £15.9bn in the three years to December 2004.