Legally Israel asks international law firms with either formal or informal Israel practices to submit work matters from the previous calendar year to highlight their involvement in and understanding of the Israeli market.

For the matter to meet our criteria, the client must be headquartered in Israel or outside of Israel, as long as the client has Israeli owners. Businesses founded by Israelis more than 5 years ago but today owned by non-Israelis or
headquartered in a country outside of Israel will not count.

If the matter is aborted but can be verified as Israel-related, then it can be counted as we are trying to showcase to an international audience the law firms still entrusted with Israeli matters, no matter the outcome. Obviously, aborted matters will not, however, feature in any relevant value table.

In the deals or cases submitted, the law firm must represent either: 

a) The Israeli client or
b) Be involved in a deal where one of the main parties is Israeli-headquartered or Israeli-owned. 

This information is collected and collated into separate league tables for each of the practice areas or sectors covered. In M&A and Capital Markets, there will be two tables: VOLUME (number of mandates or instructions in these areas) and VALUE (the total amount in USD of transactions submitted) to reflect the range of law firms involved in these areas. 

All entries are verified by press releases, news sources, and our own independent research to see if the client is Israeli and if the deals relate to the timeframe. 

Matters relate to the full calendar year – can be ongoing or completed.

The list of practice areas or sectors includes: (1) M&A (2) Banking (3) High-Tech (4) Capital Markets (5) Intellectual Property (6) Employment (7) Litigation/Arbitration (8) Energy and Infrastructure (9) Real Estate. This list is open to change to reflect the market on a yearly basis. In Labor, High-Tech and Real Estate, given the range of work for each client, matters will be counted once per client.

We reviewed the firms’ submissions and send a list of leading individuals to the highest profile lawyers in Israel, asking them to identify those Leading, Prominent, Recognized, and Notable practitioners abroad, who take a proactive, instrumental and hands-on role with respect to Israel. In addition, we have highlighted in our editorial recommended lawyers who have been active on various Israel-related matters throughout the year. 

We have also introduced the new “Elite” rankings to showcase those who particularly stood out with the largest number of matters and those with the highest value matters in what is becoming a much more competitive and vibrant market.

All ranked law firms will receive supporting editorial. 

Confidential information will be treated as 100% confidential and not discussed externally, shared, or published in any editorial. Only public and publishable information is used in the supporting editorial. 

If the matter IS confidential, a short call with the lawyer or email to the client merely to verify that the matter took place would be sufficient for its inclusion. 

A law firm’s submission is stored securely on a private secure internal drive accessible only to management. 

Law firms are free to choose which practice areas or sectors to submit content for, and having done so, they enter this content into an Excel spreadsheet template and email the submission to Israel Desks. 

Any further questions, please email Lee at lee@legalmarketing.co.il

Practice Areas researched

*M&A: This category includes representing Israeli buyer, seller or target, as well as Israeli private equity firms in M&A transactions – all public bids and acquisitions, including LBOs, MBOs, reverse buyouts, as well as partial takeovers and share transfers, Spin-offs, Joint ventures. (* we will also generate value table).

* Capital Markets: This category includes both debt and equity capital markets – bond/note issuances, IPOs, secondary offerings and private placements for Israeli issuers. (* we will also generate value table). This table will be focused on specific issuances and transactions that can be verified and confirmed. Generic advice would need to be verified to be considered. In capital markets, we are focused on IPOs, debt and equity transactions, and count each of these matters once. 

Employment: This category includes representing Israeli businesses in relation to contentious and non-contentious employment matters, such as employment litigation related to sex, race, age discrimination, as well as redundancies and employment issues related to COVID-19, as well as the merger of two companies. Generic advice may need to be verified to be considered. In this category, we count by clients, not by mandates, where this is relevant.

Litigation/Arbitration: This category includes commercial disputes for Israeli clients before courts outside of Israel, as well as arbitrations for Israeli clients abroad.

Patents and Trademarks: These categories include representing Israeli companies filing or prosecuting a patent or a trademark before the relevant authorities. Managing a portfolio for an Israeli client today is also included. 

IP: Transactional and Contentious: Intellectual Property covers disputes related to patent, copyright and trademark infringement. Litigation concerning trade secrets also features. We also feature related issues such as licensing and IP commercialization.

Tax: This category includes transactional matters – such as advice on direct and indirect taxes, tax aspects of M&A transactions, and others, as well as tax disputes, investigations and more. 

 

Sectors researched

High-Tech: This category includes transactional matters for Israeli businesses operating in the full range of tech sectors (such as Biotech, Fintech, Medtech, Cybersecurity, AI, agtech, software, IoT etc). These transactions will include M&A, financing, employment law, strategic alliances and joint ventures, stock exchange listings, and corporate governance issues. There is an expected overlap with the above practice area categories. In this category, we count by clients, not by mandates, where this is relevant.

Energy & Infrastructure: This category includes representing Israeli parties in relation to the finance and development of projects in the energy and renewable energy sector, as well as infrastructure matters, such as rail and light rail systems, roads and bridge financing; water desalination plants, hospitals, schools, and prisons.

Banking & Finance: A broad-based definition of banking transactions, which include advice to both Israeli borrowers and lenders. This includes acquisition finance (transactions involving arranging finance for acquisitions acting for either the lender or the borrower); general bank lending (syndicated lending, structured finance, leveraged finance); and refinancing (refinancing and restructuring of existing loans and debtor in possession financing), as well as regulatory advice.

Real Estate: This category includes advising global real estate developers involved in projects in real estate in Israel and Israeli real estate developers in such projects, where relevant. Israeli buyers and sellers of real estate abroad and foreign buyers and sellers of Israeli real estate are also included. Real estate projects span the residential and urban renewals field, as well as commercial, office, retail and hotel sectors. There is no separate table for real estate litigation but strengths in this area would be brought out in editorial. In this category, we count by clients, not by mandates, where this is relevant.