Changes to Corporate/M&A in Chambers 2024

What is “mid-market”? It depends on who you are. In the same way that we might have disagreements about whether a particular restaurant represents high-end or mid-market eating, businesses will disagree about whether a £10 million acquisition is small or large. This element of ambiguity means that the terms aren’t always helpful. Wouldn’t it just be easier to call it a £10 million acquisition and leave it to you to decide for yourself if that’s big or small?  

For this reason, Chambers UK is renaming its transactional sections to make them as intuitive as possible for clients. A user of the guide should be able to easily find the most appropriate law firm for their needs. With this in mind, we changed the names of the London Corporate/M&A sections last year. Out went High-end Capability, Mid-Market and Lower Mid-Market and in came £800 million and above, £100-800 million and £10-100 million respectively.  

This has been well received. Clients report that it makes it simpler to pinpoint the most well-positioned firm for the issue they are encountering. It comes with the caveat that the firms ranked in these sections do not exclusively advise on such deals.

There is no doubt that DLA Piper, say, which is currently ranked in the £100-800 million table, can and does advise on £1+ billion deals. There is no doubt that every firm ranked in £800 million and above, including all the magic circle firms, will deign to work on deals worth less than £800 million. The distinction is made so that a client with a £300 million deal, for instance, can see a ranking table containing the firms most used to advising on that sort of matter. It doesn’t always make sense to use the “best” firm for your problem: instructing a magic circle firm on a £1 million acquisition may mean that you get good advice, but it will also land you with a disproportionately large bill. 

In this vein, we are changing the names of our regional sections, too. When the next guide launches, we will no longer be using the old names of Mid-Market & Private Equity and Lower Mid-Market. These terms will be replaced with £25 million and above and £5 million and above. The SME/Owner-managed Businesses table will remain unchanged. This affects East Anglia, North West, Sout West, The South, Thames Valley, East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire. 

We will continue to review the numbers we use to make sure they remain accurate. It is possible that some of the most elite firms in some of the most competitive sections – such as North West – might find £25 million a little low. Others might find £5 million too high a jump from the SME-focused tables. We will happily alter the numbers as time progresses and the market develops. 

Register for the Chambers UK guide launch 2024 here.

We are making similar changes to our Private Equity: Buyouts tables. On 19 October, the old High-end Capability and Mid-Market names will be removed and replaced with Up to £500 million and £500 million and above.  

These changes occur after we successfully renamed our Real Estate tables in the 2023 guide. In London there are now three tables, depending on the size of deal under consideration: £150 million and above, £50-150 million and Up to £50 million.

Outside of the capital, some regions are broken down depending on whether the firm routinely advises on matters above or below the £10 million threshold. As with Corporate/M&A, this enables users of the guide to home in on the most appropriate firms for the matter at hand. The only thing we can’t help you with is which restaurant you choose.