Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the international law firm with the largest German partnership, has topped the half year European mergers and acquisitions legal league tables according to Mergermarket data.

Work by Freshfields on 89 mandates tallied £97.36bn (€160.6bn), which was over £20bn more than its nearest legal rival, Slaughter and May. Slaughter's £76.24bn of deals, however, was achieved from only 46 transactions.