Commercial Lawyer in Israel
Companies, partnerships, contracts and business disputes
A business runs on agreements - with partners, clients, suppliers and the bank. We make sure those agreements are drafted properly and hold when they are tested: from incorporating the company, through the next critical contract, to a dispute you have to win without losing the business.
We advise companies, partnerships, businesses and non-profits - ongoing counsel, transactions and commercial litigation. Offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, working in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
What we handle
Seven clusters, organised by the situation you are in - from formation and ongoing counsel, through partnerships and contracts, to liquidation and disputes.
Ongoing counsel
Legal support for businesses and companies Business law for non-residents Family businessesPartnerships
Partnership agreements Registered and unregistered partnershipsCompanies and shareholders
Incorporating a limited company Considerations in incorporation Shareholder rights Minority shareholder oppression Piercing the corporate veil Responsibilities of directors and officers Personal guarantees by shareholders Corporate governance The agency problem Poison pill provisions in the articlesContracts and transactions
Buying or selling a business, and due diligence Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) SAFE agreements for raising capital Franchise agreements Agency and distribution agreements Commercial lease agreementsWinding down
Voluntary liquidation of a company Dissolution of a company - routes and stages Liquidating an insolvent companyNon-profits
Setting up and running an associationDebt, licensing and consumers
Debt collection and creditor representation Business licensing Not sure where your issue fits? We will point you the right wayWhere you are right now
Four very different situations - each with a different first step.
Running a business and want legal cover in place
Client and supplier agreements, day-to-day decisions, and the one big contract that deserves a lawyer before it is signed.
Ongoing legal supportGoing into a partnership - or getting out of one
An agreement before you start, or an orderly exit when it stops working. Those are the two moments a good agreement is worth everything.
Partnership agreementsA shareholder or director in a company
Rights against the majority, personal exposure, guarantees and board decisions - before a disagreement turns into litigation.
Shareholder rightsDoing business in Israel from abroad
Setting up an Israeli entity, contracting with local partners and managing it remotely - with counsel who works in your language.
Business law for non-residentsThree mistakes that cost real money
Each one rests on a provision of Israeli law - not on a hunch.
Going into business together without an agreement, "because we are friends"
A partnership built on trust is still a partnership in the eyes of the law.
Without a partnership agreement the default rules of the Partnerships Ordinance apply to you - even if you never registered a partnership. Whatever you agreed verbally about splits, authority and exit is worth exactly as much as the other side remembers.
What the law says
The Partnerships Ordinance provides that failure to register does not determine whether a partnership exists (section 6). Absent an agreement to the contrary, a partnership of unspecified duration dissolves on notice from a single partner (section 41), and the death of a partner dissolves the whole partnership (section 42). A well-drafted agreement overrides all of these defaults.
Signing a personal guarantee for the bank - and forgetting it exists
Limited liability is worth exactly as much as the guarantees you did not sign.
A limited company separates your personal assets from the debts of the business. A personal guarantee bypasses that protection with one signature - often with no cap, no expiry date, and sometimes still binding after you have left the company.
What the law says
Separate legal personality protects a shareholder: a court will attribute a company debt to a shareholder only in exceptional cases - where the separate personality was used to defraud a person or prejudice a creditor, or involved unreasonable risk-taking as to the company's ability to meet its debts (section 6 of the Companies Law). A personal guarantee is a waiver of that protection in advance - a separate contract between you and the creditor, which does not depend on veil-piercing at all.
Closing a deal over email and assuming it is "not binding"
Business correspondence is not corridor talk. It is evidence - and sometimes a finished contract.
An offer, a price, "great, we are agreed" - and sometimes a binding contract has been formed without anyone noticing. And in the other direction: whoever relies on a verbal understanding may find there is no way to prove it.
What the law says
Section 23 of the Contracts Law provides that "a contract may be made orally, in writing or in any other form" - unless a particular form is required by law or by agreement between the parties. Where there is intent to be bound and sufficient certainty, an exchange of messages can mature into a binding contract. On material transactions, agree in writing up front that only a signed document will bind.
Five stages, from the first call to a resolution
In most commercial matters the big decisions are made at stage three - before a single letter goes out.
Introduction and mapping
What the business is, who the parties are and what is genuinely urgent. By the end of the call you know the next step and what it costs.
The legal picture
We read the agreements, the articles and the correspondence, and identify the strong and weak points - yours and the other side's.
Strategy and decision
Negotiation, redrafting, arbitration or court? We set out the options, the risk and the cost - and decide together with you.
Drafting, negotiation and representation
Precise drafts, negotiation, and representation in proceedings if needed - with us updating you at every stage rather than the other way round.
Implementation and ongoing support
We make sure the agreement is actually implemented and stay available - because the business keeps running after the signature.
Four commitments
Not slogans - things you can hold us to.
A reply within one business day
You will not have to chase us. Every enquiry gets an answer within one business day.
A fee proposal before we start
A clear framework up front: what is included, what is not, and what happens if the scope changes. No surprises on the invoice.
We update you, you do not chase us
Every material development reaches you from us - not from the other side, and not late.
Legal advice that understands the business
Our recommendation weighs the numbers too: sometimes the right settlement is worth more than an expensive win.
First call - no obligation.
Contract on the table? Dispute brewing?
A ten-minute call with a commercial lawyer will give you a sharper answer than any web page - what is urgent, what can wait, and what it will cost.
Where commercial law meets our other practices
Most business questions do not stay inside one field. Hiring, dismissals and contractor-versus-employee questions sit in employment law; the lease or purchase of your premises belongs to real estate, planning and construction; and a claim over defective goods or professional negligence runs through torts.
Founders and investors arriving from abroad usually need two things at once - business law for non-residents and status and immigration. Documents for use overseas, powers of attorney and certified translations go through our notary services in Jerusalem. And where the business is owned by a family, ownership and succession are handled together with family and inheritance law and our family businesses practice.
What people ask us
We went into business together with no agreement and no registration - is there a partnership at all?
What has to be in a partnership agreement?
How do you dissolve a business partnership that has reached deadlock?
How is a company voluntarily liquidated in Israel?
When will a court "pierce the veil" and hold a shareholder personally liable?
I am a minority shareholder and I feel I am being squeezed out. What can I do?
Should we include an arbitration clause in a commercial agreement?
The bank wants a personal guarantee - can the exposure be reduced?
Tell us where the business stands - we will tell you the right move
If you are pre-signature, this is exactly the call to have before you sign. If the dispute is already here, every week of waiting narrows your options. First call with no obligation, in English, Hebrew or Arabic.