(Reuters) - Goodwin Procter is once again heading into the spring as the top legal advisor for mid-market M&A deals, according to data from Refinitiv, ending the first quarter with the most worldwide deals under its belt.

Refinitiv tallied 13,192 mid-market M&A deals in the first quarter, an 11% increase from the same time last year. Goodwin advised on 203 of those, 38 more than Q1 2020 and 39 more than its closest rival Kirkland & Ellis.

Goodwin was also the top firm for the quarter by deal value, advising on $9.9 billion in combined global midmarket transactions. Latham & Watkins had the second-highest combined deal value, at about $7.3 billion.

Global mid-market M&A deals, which Refinitiv defines as transactions valued up to $500 million, reached $282.4 billion during the first quarter of 2021.

"The Mid-Market is the true barometer of the health of the M&A market as the vast majority of volume takes place outside of the mega-deal category," Matt Toole, director of deals intelligence at Refinitiv, said. "The sheer volume (of mid-market transactions) in the first quarter illustrates just how busy M&A lawyers have been."

Goodwin, whose mid-market M&A clients this year have included e-commerce company Deliverr Inc and sports nutrition store chain Beam Organics Inc, also took the lead advising on mid-market deals in Q1 2020, despite a slowed M&A market due to the brewing pandemic.

DLA Piper, which was ranked second for mid-market deal work in Q1 2020, came in at No. 4 last quarter, after Latham, tying with Jones Day.