Power M&A Counsel Is One of Three Benches: No Practice Owns the Work

A general counsel who searches for renewable energy M&A law firms usually has one transaction in mind: buying or selling a portfolio, a platform or a developer. Sartori & Partners data show that the M&A lawyers are only one of the teams that power companies keep calling. In the 12 months to October 2026, corporate and M&A lawyers worked on 27.7% of the sector's 1,989 dated deals. Projects and infrastructure lawyers were on more of them, 32.9%, and capital markets lawyers on nearly as many, 26.0%. One deal can carry several practices, so these shares overlap: the point is that no single team handles most of the work.

Most sectors have one dominant practice and a long tail. Power has three practices close together at the top, then a clear step to banking and finance at 12.0% and almost nothing from litigation. The gap from the largest bench to the third is 6.9 points. Across every sector in the Sartori & Partners deal records, power is the only one where projects lawyers are the largest group on the work.

The deal types tell the same story from another angle. Capital markets deals were 25.2% of the sector's work, project and infrastructure finance 24.8% and M&A 22.0%. A company that raises bonds, finances assets and trades them in the same year needs all three skills on call, and it should not assume that the firm it trusts for one is equally deep in the other two.

Set power against the two largest sectors on the corporate practice's list and the difference is plain. In pharma and biotech, capital markets lawyers sat on 53.1% of deals and corporate and M&A lawyers on 23.4%. In technology and software, corporate and M&A lawyers were on 47.8% of deals and capital markets lawyers on 24.0%. The spread between the first and the third practice is 42.8 points in pharma and 36.5 points in technology.

The corporate share itself is not small. Corporate and M&A lawyers were on more of the power sector's deals than of pharma's, and their weight in power sits above their 23.3% share of all dated deals. What changes is the company around them. A pharma general counsel can run most of the year through one capital markets relationship; a power general counsel cannot. The consequence is a panel decision, not a single appointment.

Seen from the practice's side, power and renewables accounted for 4.9% of corporate and M&A deals in the 12 months to October 2026, behind technology and software at 14.0% and pharma and biotech at 6.8%. The sector holds 4.1% of all dated deals, so corporate lawyers lean slightly toward it.

The pace differs too. Power and renewables deals rose 27.6% on settled windows, from 1,575 to 2,009. Corporate and M&A deals across every sector rose 9.5%, from 10,198 to 11,170, close to the 10.6% rise in all dated deals. Power work is growing faster than the practice that serves part of it, so the M&A partners a power company wants are spending a larger slice of their year in its sector, and it competes with more peers for their time.

Where a value was disclosed, the median power and renewables deal was US$ 500 million, against US$ 315 million across corporate and M&A deals and US$ 250 million in pharma and biotech. A value was disclosed on 27.7% of power deals, against 17.7% of corporate deals, so the medians describe only part of each record. Larger tickets bring lenders, rating questions and permits into the same transaction, which is why projects and capital markets lawyers sit beside the M&A team. Ask any firm pitching an acquisition who on its side will handle the financing and the asset diligence.

The firm list below covers all the sector's work, not only the corporate share of it; there is no separate list for M&A on power deals. Latham & Watkins and White & Case head it, each in the 101-150 band of deals advised. Five of these names also appear on the corporate practice's own top 10 across all sectors: Latham & Watkins, White & Case, CMS, Kirkland & Ellis and DLA Piper. The others on the power list reach it through projects, finance and energy work, which is the point of a three-bench sector.

In Sartori & Partners records, 19.0% of power deals were handled with lawyers in London, against 11.1% of pharma deals. Paris lawyers worked on 9.0% of power deals and Frankfurt lawyers on 7.3%. On the US side, 12.2% of the sector's deals had Houston lawyers on them. One deal can count in several cities. A company with European assets should check that the firm's M&A team and its finance team work from the same offices as the assets.

Build the panel around three benches, not one. With projects lawyers on 32.9% of the sector's deals and capital markets lawyers on 26.0%, an M&A appointment that ignores the other two leaves most of the year's work unplanned. Test each firm on all three, and accept that the right answer may be two firms.

Ask for the corporate team's own sector mix. Power is 4.9% of corporate and M&A deals overall, so a generalist M&A partner may see few power transactions in a year. Insist on a lead who has closed acquisitions with project debt attached. Book capacity early: power deals rose 27.6% against 9.5% for the practice, and the partners you want are busier than a year ago.

Sartori & Partners figures come from public law-firm announcements, firm websites and professional profiles, checked monthly. Deal counts are matters on record, not fees.