M. Firon & Co.

For over 70 years, M. Firon & Co. has stood out as one of Israel’s largest and most prestigious law firms. The firm was one of the first (and few) Israeli law firms to offer international services and is currently operating 9 branches in Israel and abroad, with a legal team of over 300 professionals.
The firm, currently headed by Adv. Zvi Firon, was founded in 1950, by Adv. Jacob Shimshon Shapiro, Israel’s first Attorney General (1948-1950) and Minister of Justice in Israel’s 13th, 14th, and 15th governments (1966-1973) and Adv. Michael Firon. For over seven decades, the firm has grown and flourished along with the Israeli economy, acquiring expertise and experience in representing diverse clients in all fields of commercial law and litigation.
The firm’s success is based on the traditional values of the legal profession instilled by its founders – uncompromising professionalism, loyalty, and discreetness. On this solid foundation, a modern, energetic, and innovative law firm was built, offering its clients comprehensive legal services, while demonstrating creativity, strategic involvement in the client’s decision-making process, extraordinary proficiency in the international business arena, and a total commitment to the client’s needs.
This unique combination of tradition and innovation enables the firm to foster decades-long relationships with some of its most prominent clients, as well as to rapidly acquire a thorough understanding of the legal and business needs of new clients. The firm’s clients include some of the most active and well-known business people and companies in Israel and abroad, including governmental ministries agencies and companies, industrial companies, multinational companies and leading publicly traded and privately held companies. The firm’s clients operate in every sector of industry and commerce, including technology and hi-tech, blockchain ICOs and smart-contracts insurance, infrastructures and projects, defense, real estate, tourism, banking and finance, distribution and franchising, venture capital and private equity, energy, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, telecoms and media, transportation and aviation, and more.
The firm’s impressive capabilities have been vastly acknowledged by Israeli and international ranking guides, who bestow high rankings upon the firm’s departments and partners year after year.
M. Firon & Co. has been chosen as the sole representative, in Israel and Romania, of Interlaw - a prestigious network that incorporates dozens of top law firms worldwide.
The firm’s commitment to its unique values is manifested in the exclusive selection of its legal professionals, acknowledging that a law firm’s most precious asset is the excellence of its team. Thus, many of the firm’s partners have worked with it for years, some spending their entire careers at the firm, having started as interns. In addition, the firm’s attorneys have advanced degrees and certifications in law and other fields, such as accounting, business administration, economics, philosophy, and the social sciences from top universities in Israel and abroad. Many attorneys have also worked in the US and Europe, and some have a business and managerial experiences in non-legal disciplines, such as finance, insurance, pharmaceuticals, and technology. This unique mix of values, skills, and experience ensures that M. Firon & Co. will continue to thrive and provide its clients with unparalleled service – service built on tradition and driven by innovation.

Main Areas of Practice

Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a core practice of M. Firon & Co. The firm’s attorneys have decades of cumulative experience in advising on multibillion-shekel M&A deals, some of which have made international headlines and are considered milestones in the Israeli economy. It is this proven track-record that positions the firm at the forefront of M&A in Israel, enabling it to manage complex transactions at every scale anywhere in the world.

Commercial Litigation
M. Firon & Co. represents corporations and individuals in Israel and overseas, before all legal instances and in arbitrations (including international arbitrations) and mediation proceedings, in a variety of complex business disputes. The firm expertise covers all aspects of commercial litigation, including unique experience in project and infrastructure litigation, being a pioneer in these areas.

Real Estate and Construction
M. Firon & Co. has handled some of the largest and most complex real estate projects in the Israeli construction industry for leading residential and commercial real estate companies and for private entities promoting real estate projects. For many years, the firm has been involved in projects dealing with the construction of hospitals, hotels, industrial plants, roads, bridges, ports, tunnels, gas pipelines (marine and terrestrial), desalination plants, residential developments and offices and commercial centers across the country and worldwide.

Capital Markets
M. Firon & Co. provides support, counsel and legal representation on all the legal aspects associated with capital markets, to public companies, corporations, trust funds, pension funds, companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and other organizations in the financial sector. The firm has handled some of the largest IPOs in Israel in recent years.

Projects & Infrastructure
At any given moment, M. Firon & Co. advises on national infrastructure projects of critical importance to the economy, some of which amount to billions of shekels. The firm is known for representing large corporations and conglomerates, as well as major contractor groups, in BOT, PFI and PPP tenders, and in large projects in which the public and private sectors join forces and share the risks between them.
Blockchain, ICOs and Smart Contracts
Ever committed to innovation, the firm is positioned at the forefront of legal practice when it comes to blockchain technology, ICOs, and smart-contracts. To further establish its leadership position, the firm formed multiple collaboration initiatives with leading international law firms and service providers, thus allowing it to offer to Israeli clients comprehensive solution in every jurisdiction.

International Arbitration
M. Firon is one of Israel’s leading international arbitration firms. It has unparalleled experience and expertise in the handling of multi-billion dollar arbitrations in multiple seats and venues, administered by various arbitration institutions. The firm’s partners who hold important positions at such institutions are often appointed as arbitrators.

Energy and Natural Resources
Over the years, the firm has advised on ground-breaking multi-billion dollar projects locally and internationally. The firm has handled a wide range of projects, such as in the areas of water, oil, gas, renewable energy and wind energy (including the first power station to be constructed in Israel by the private sector fueled by natural gas and diesel oil, the multi-billion dollar gas supply agreements for the Egyptian natural gas pipeline to Israel and the consequent multi-billion dollar international arbitration proceedings).

International Activity
M. Firon & Co. handles extensive international activities for Israeli and foreign clients alike. The firm represents multinational corporations, investors, funds and hi-tech companies. The firm has vast experience in negotiating complex transactions in the US, all over Europe, in the Far East, in South America and in certain African countries and is uniquely qualified to handle transactions in Eastern Europe. M. Firon & Co. has branches in Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.

Hi-Tech and Start-Ups
M. Firon & Co. has a strong and well-regarded hi-tech and start-ups practice. The firm specializes in advising technology companies in every industry and sphere, from innovative start-ups to some of the world’s most influential multinationals. The firm’s attorneys boast many years of experience in the Israeli and global technology market and are proud of their contribution to some of the most prominent transactions in the industry in recent years, which have reverberated in Israel and overseas.

Class Actions
M. Firon & Co. is one of Israel’s leading law firms in the area of class actions. For over 20 years, the firm’s attorneys have been handling large-scale class actions against some of Israel’s largest companies - since the field’s modern-day inception in Israel and even more so since the enactment of the Class Action Law. The firm has accumulated vast experience from countless class action suits totaling in billions of shekels.

Commercial Law
M. Firon & Co. aspires to provide its clients with a complete solution to all their commercial legal needs. The firm matches up to a professional team with experience that is relevant to each client’s business to provide perfect support for their day-to-day operations with specialist back-up support (for example for M&A, real estate, intellectual property, antitrust, etc.).

Labor Law
M. Firon & Co. has extensive experience in labor law. As one of the largest law firms in Israel, M. Firon & Co. advises Israel’s Tier-1 businesses on complex labor and collective bargaining issues, which require rich and diverse experience in this field. On one hand, the firm takes pride in offering practical advice in helping to resolve crises without resorting to litigation, whilst, on the other hand, the firm works on hundreds of labor law cases at any given moment, and represents companies with tens of thousands of employees in Israel.

Intellectual Property
M. Firon & Co. has one of the top and most highly regarded intellectual property practices in the country. The firm’s attorneys are renowned experts on intellectual property issues and are particularly esteemed for their contribution to establishing the field in Israel in recent decades. The firm specializes in all aspects of modern intellectual property, representing its clients both in Israel and overseas. The firm’s services cover the full range of intellectual property, including the prosecution of patents, designs and trademarks, litigation and enforcement of intellectual property rights, and commercialization of intellectual property rights.

Administrative Law and Tenders Litigation
M. Firon & Co. is vastly experienced in representing leading companies in their interactions with administrative authorities and government entities, with expertise in the fields of planning, construction, and real estate. The firm is involved in the most important petitions brought before the administrative and supreme courts on a wide range of administrative and public issues.

Liquidation and Insolvency
M. Firon & Co. is one of the most active Israeli firms in the areas of restructuring, liquidation, and insolvency. The firm’s attorneys have decades of accumulated experience in the field, during which time they have served both as receivers for some of the country’s largest corporations (mostly publicly traded companies), and as the representatives of creditors (including Israeli and foreign financial institutions and bondholders). The firm’s attorneys handle some of the best-known and most complex insolvency cases in Israel at any given moment, sometimes involving hundreds of millions of shekels.

Insurance
M. Firon & Co. provides a wide range of legal services in the insurance sector to insurance companies and the main insurance organizations in Israel. In addition, the firm represents its clients before the Insurance Commissioner and governmental institutions in cases of fundamental importance to the insurance industry and also represents the insurance sector before the Knesset in matters relating to legislative proceedings.

Competition and Antitrust
Competition and antitrust is one of the most prominent and developing fields in the legal world, with an ever-growing impact on commercial life. M. Firon & Co. has extensive experience and a proven track record in representing leading Israeli and foreign companies in complex transactions and commercial agreements, such as mergers and acquisitions and collaborations with competitors. The firm’s antitrust team is fully committed to ensuring its clients have the maximum freedom to operate within the framework of the different antitrust legal requirements.

 

Branches

Tel Aviv (International Headquarters):

Adgar 360 Tower, 2 Hashlosha St., Tel Aviv 6706054
P.O.B. 9445 6109302
Tel: 972-3-7540000
Fax: 972-3-7540011
Email: [email protected]

Haifa

104 Ha’Azmaut St., Haifa 3341103
Tel: 972-4-8554454  
Fax: 972-4-8554456
Email: [email protected]

2 Hanamal St. Haifa 3303102
Tel: 972-4-8404412  
Fax: 972-4-8404413
Email: [email protected]

Negev

Lev Hacity (Entrance B), 2 Hatikvah St., Beer-Sheba 8489310
Tel: 972-8-6235555  
Fax: 972-8-6235556
Email: [email protected]

Nof Hagalil

BST Building, 1 Hermon St., Nof Hagalil 1750222
Tel: 972-4-6450789  
Fax: 972-4-6450890
Email: [email protected]

Other Branches

Bulgaria

Sofia: 6 Nikolay V. Gogol Street, 1124 Sofia, Bulgaria
Tel: +359-2-401-9160  
Fax: +359-2-401-9170
Email: [email protected]

Romania

Bucharest: Union International Business Center, 11 Ion Campineanu Street, Bucharest,  010031
Tel: +40-21-3123388   
Fax: +40-21-3124686
Email: [email protected]

Serbia

Borozan & Winterfeldt - Law Office
Dragoslava Jovanovi’a 13/III|
11000 Belgrade,  Republic of Serbia
Tel:  +381 11 33 42 491, 32 35 275
Mobile: +381 63 80 17 317
Email: [email protected]

Greece

Machas and Partners Law Firm
12  Neofytou Douka str.,  Kolonaki 106 74, Athens, Greece
Tel: +30 210 7211100  
Fax: +30 210 7254750
www.machas-partners.com