Selling your LA business, acquiring a California target, or running a growth-equity round? Greater LA is one of the country's largest M&A markets — media and entertainment, consumer products, healthcare, real estate, tech. The firms below structure middle-market and Am Law 100 deals every week. California labor and regulatory exposure makes good LA counsel essential.
Updated March 7, 2026
LA businesses call M&A counsel for four reasons: you have signed (or are about to sign) a letter of intent to sell the company; you have identified a target and need a buy-side team; a strategic acquirer or private-equity firm has approached your board; or you are raising growth capital in a deal big enough to feel like a partial sale (Series C or later, recapitalization, secondary). The right LA M&A firm matches your deal size and your sector.
California adds two material complications that out-of-state counsel routinely miss. First, California labor law: AB 5 contractor classification, the broader CA WARN Act, PAGA's private right of action for Labor Code violations, and the new Healthcare OHCA notice requirements all create indemnity exposure that needs to be priced into the purchase agreement. Second, California regulatory licenses: insurance, healthcare, cannabis, alcohol, real estate, and many financial services require state-specific change-of-control approvals.
LA's M&A market splits into three clear tiers. Top tier — Latham & Watkins (LA HQ), Skadden, Paul Hastings, O'Melveny, Gibson Dunn, Kirkland's LA office — handles the largest and most complex deals. Mid-market and boutique — Greenberg Glusker, Glaser Weil, Sheppard Mullin, Loeb & Loeb's LA office, Stubbs Alderton, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp — handles $25M-$500M deals at substantially better economics, with deep sector experience in entertainment, real estate, consumer, and healthcare. Local business firms like Boyd Law handle smaller asset deals and family-business sales economically.
Get LA M&A counsel engaged at the LOI stage, not after. The economic structure of the deal — allocation of California-specific risk, escrow size, RWI vs traditional indemnity, regulatory consent conditions — is hardest to change once both sides have signed the term sheet.
Century City full-service firm with one of LA's most respected corporate and M&A benches. Entertainment, media, real estate, technology, and consumer-products deals. Founder-led companies and PE-backed sellers in the $25M-$500M middle market.
Los Angeles business law firm with a focused M&A and corporate transactional practice for the lower middle market. Asset and stock purchases, earnouts, founder buyouts, and post-closing dispute work. Flat-fee LLC and corporate setup; hourly on M&A.
Century City firm with substantial entertainment, real estate, and corporate transactional practice. M&A, joint ventures, and complex commercial transactions for high-net-worth principals and entertainment industry clients.
LA-headquartered global firm with one of the largest M&A practices in the world. Public-company transactions, private equity, healthcare consolidation, energy and renewables, and complex cross-border deals. Standard for deals north of $500M.
LA-founded Am Law 100 firm with a deep middle-market and large-cap M&A practice. Strong on technology, healthcare, real estate, consumer products, and cannabis transactions in California. PE buy-side and sell-side experience across multiple sectors.
Lower middle market ($5M-$25M deals). Buy-side legal fees of $50,000-$200,000, sell-side $40,000-$150,000. Often handled at fixed or capped fees by LA business firms like Boyd Law.
Middle market ($25M-$250M deals). Buy-side $250,000-$900,000, sell-side $200,000-$700,000. Greenberg Glusker, Glaser Weil, Sheppard Mullin, Loeb & Loeb LA, and Stubbs Alderton compete in this tier.
Large-cap ($250M-$1B deals). Buy-side $1M-$3.5M, sell-side $800,000-$2.5M.
Mega-cap and public company ($1B+). Latham, Skadden's LA office, Paul Hastings, O'Melveny, Gibson Dunn rates. $3M-$15M+ per side is normal.
California-specific add-ons. PAGA risk diligence and indemnity bucket negotiation: $20,000-$75,000. OHCA premerger notice (healthcare): $30,000-$80,000. CA Department of Insurance Form A filing: $40,000-$150,000. RWI premium: 2.5-4.5% of policy limits.
LOI signed: typically 2-4 weeks of pre-LOI negotiation, then exclusivity and definitive-agreement drafting begins.
Due diligence: 3-8 weeks in parallel with definitive agreement drafting. California adds labor (PAGA, AB 5, WARN), regulatory licenses, and Prop 65 / environmental workstreams.
Definitive agreements drafted, negotiated, signed: 3-6 weeks from LOI for a clean middle-market deal.
Regulatory clearance: HSR 30-day waiting period. California-specific consents (DOI, DMHC, OHCA, ABC, BCC for cannabis) can extend 60 days to 9 months depending on agency and sector. Healthcare OHCA notice alone requires 90 days.
Closing to integration: closing usually 1-7 days after regulatory clearance. Most modern closings are remote signings via DocuSign or comparable.
Tell us briefly about the deal. We route a confidential request to the best-fit LA firm in our directory.