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28 The US-Israel Legal Review 2019
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL ROUNDTABLE
Aric Press
: Gideon, have you taken any special
steps to control costs? Has that been an issue with
the firms you have dealt with?
Gideon Rosenberg
: Our main step in controlling
costs has been to bring more work in-house. For
example, we recently added a patent attorney to
the teamwhich has led to a reduction in our outside
counsel fee as related to patents. In addition, we
tend to work with local firms rather than large
multi-national firms in most of the jurisdictions
we work in. we have long standing relationships
with most of our outside counsel firms which has
of course helped us in keeping costs under control.
We monitor our fees on a monthly basis and expect
the firms to provide us with budget estimates
every month which has helped us plan our budget
in a more efficient manner.
Aric Press
: And Edva, at HP?
Edva Liveanu-Justo
: We have detailed fee
arrangements with our outside counsels which
provide cost control mechanisms; to-date, I am not
aware of any issue due to this. Furthermore, we
keep very much with the times, and are quick to try
various combinations or arrangements with our
outside counsels OCs.
Aric Press
: Gideon, Mellanox and NVIDIA have
reached an agreement for a $6.9 billion acquisition.
What does this tell us about theUS. – Israeli bilateral
dynamic within the tech sector?
Gideon Rosenberg
: I think this shows us the
strength of the Israeli tech sector. The fact that
cutting-edge technology which interests the largest
US and other companies around the world is being
developed in Israel is a true testament to our ability
as a country and a people to innovate and work hard
to achieve success.
Aric Press
: Indeed. As an early innovator in high-
performance interconnect technology, Mellanox
pioneered the InfiniBand interconnect technology,
which along with its high-speed Ethernet products
is now used in over half of the world’s fastest
supercomputers as well as in many leading
hyperscale datacenters. Sowhat is it about the Israeli
tech sector that enables this level of innovation and
growth?
Gideon Rosenberg
: I believe that this is due to our
hard work and desire to prove that we can be world
leaders in allmarkets. I think Israelis are innovators
by nature and therefore are constantly trying to
realize their dreams and therefore address areas or
markets which have yet to be discovered by others.
Israeli innovators are true visionaries. This is all
coupled with the hard worked and dedication of the
Israeli employees leads to the ability of Israelis to
establish successful companies in all sectors.
Aric Press
: Edva, in your view, are there steps that
outside counsel should take to improve the service
and value?
Edva Liveanu-Justo
: In my opinion, a good outside
counsel needs to be proficient and knowledgeable on
the one hand, and with a good understanding of the
external client’s business needs on the other hand.
In other words, they need to be enablers, and shake
off the traditional approach of just putting the legal
position on the table. I would also expect them to
be able to convey the message in short, as much as
possible.
Gideon Rosenberg
: We are very satisfied with
our outside counsel. The reason we are satisfied
is because they provide us excellent legal services
which to us means not only understanding the legal
part of the advice being given but also the business
context. So from my perspective the best outside
counsels I have worked with understand that they
are part of our team and business and need to
provide us not just the pure legal answers but also
those which enable us to reach the business goals of
the company.
n
“Good outside counsel need to
be enablers and shake off the
traditional approach of just
putting the legal position on
the table.”