So, you want to make partner in Biglaw’s high-stakes mergers and acquisitions practice? After years of blockbuster deals, brutal slowdowns, and hopeful rebounds, it’s a career path that isn’t for the faint of heart. But which law schools will give you the best chance of turning that dealmaking dream into reality?
Deal Point Data recently released the second edition of its ranking of the top 10 law schools for M&A. Here’s the methodology:
The 2026 rankings are based on transactions announced from August 1, 2016 to July 30, 2026, for publicly traded targets involving U.S. firms. To be included in the ranking, each attorney must have been a partner who was disclosed in the merger agreement.
Now, without further ado, let’s get into the thing you really care about: the 2026 rankings.
- Harvard Law School
- Columbia Law School
- New York University School of Law
- Yale Law School
- Georgetown University Law Center
- University of Chicago Law School
- University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
- University of Virginia School of Law
- University of Michigan Law School
- George Washington University Law School
The deal market may have taken aspiring Biglaw partners on quite the roller coaster, but this ranking has barely budged. A decade after Deal Point’s first edition of this ranking, UVA has joined the top 10, while Columbia and NYU have traded places. Apparently even in a practice built around shaking up corporate America, the law school pecking order is a little harder to disrupt.
Congratulations to all the schools on the list! For students hoping to spend their careers closing deals, these names offer a great place to start.
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
