In July 2023, Israel’s Knesset passed into law a bill seeking to promote investment in Israel’s high-tech and innovation industry. The law aims to both keep home-grown companies in Israel, rather than turning overseas after a period of growth, and to make the country more attractive to major corporations to open offices in Israel.  

A report about the new law by The Jerusalem Post says that the high-tech industry has been the driving factor of growth in Israel’s economy over the last few decades, now consisting of 15 percent of GDP and 50 percent in total exports. “Amid the first legislation of the judicial reform passed, a new study was published that showed increasing fears of companies shifting their bases abroad. While troubling, the case of companies relocating is nothing new; the United States is already home to 88 Israeli-founded unicorns (companies valued at more than $1 billion),” the newspaper reported.  

“For this reason,” the story says, “lawmakers and government high-tech offices have made it a top priority to remove some of the burdens stifling growth, and to work to encourage internal corporate maturity in the country – particularly in companies whose intellectual property and main business activity is happening in Israel.” 

Two main aspects of the bill include the postponement of the payment of capital gains taxes, assuming the funds are invested in start-up companies. The bill also provides a tax credit for those who invest in start-ups. The bill’s second main aspect allows for investments to be considered as expenses for large international corporations who buy controlling shares of high-tech companies in the country, while also allowing for the cost to spread over five years, thereby reducing their tax burden. This makes Israeli start-ups more attractive for would-be buyers, the Post reported. 

Ofir Akunis, who heads Israel’s Innovation, Science, and Technology Ministry, applauded the law’s passing, saying that “the approval of the law is huge news for Israeli high-tech.” He added that “the purpose of the law is to remove barriers and encourage the establishment and growth of Israeli high-tech companies. I believe this law can herald the beginning of a turning point in the high-tech industry.” 

It is with efforts like this in mind that we turned to IP professionals in the region in order to understand better what clients are looking for from today’s IP lawyer. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. From their answers, we have compiled our inaugural list of Israel’s 50 IP Experts, those lawyers who understand just what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.  

One of the country’s largest legal groups dominates the list: The Reinhold Cohn Group, which includes lawyers from Reinhold Cohn & Partners and Gilat Bareket & Co., placed seven lawyers on the list. Other large firms in Israel also fared well: Cohn de Vries Stadler & Co. and S. Horowitz & Co. each placed three lawyers on the list, while a number of firms placed two, including Adin Liss Pyernik; Drori-Stav & Co.; Ehrlich Group; Fisher Friedman IP Group; Glazberg, Applebaum & Co.; Gornitzky & Co.; Herzog Fox & Neeman; Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzker Baratz; Shalev Jencmen & Co.; and The Luzzatto Group. 

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.  

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s Israel IP Experts.

– GREGORY GLASS 

Israel’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to in-house counsel around the world, as well as Middle East-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.  

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has nearly 50 years of collective experience in researching and understanding legal markets in Asia and the Middle East. 

All private practice intellectual property lawyers in Israel were eligible for inclusion in the nominations process; there were no fees or other requirements for inclusion in the process. 

The names of our 50 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.