Sefi Zilberstein, Law Office

Sefi Zilberstein, Advocates is a boutique law firm specializing in real estate and urban renewal. The firm has an excellent professional reputation, extensive knowledge, and rich experience representing developers, real estate funds, and leading companies in the market, alongside many private clients throughout Israel. The firm was established in 2023 by Adv. Sefi (Yosef) Zilberstein, following an extensive 18-year career as a partner in the real estate department of Goldfarb, Gross, Seligman & Co., one of the largest law firms in Israel. The firm combines the knowledge and experience of a large firm in complex transactions and projects, together with the personal service and close accompaniment of a boutique firm, with all files handled directly by the firm’s partners.

In-depth understanding of the complexities of the legal field and the local real estate market.

The firm provides its clients with full and comprehensive companionship, delivered personally by its partners, based on an in-depth understanding of the complexities of the legal field and the local market. As part of its services, the firm provides its clients with professional, comprehensive, and individually tailored advice, with an emphasis on full availability and adherence to the highest standards, with the aim of achieving the best outcome for them.

Practice Areas

The firm provides comprehensive legal accompaniment to a wide range of clients, including prominent developers, large public and private companies:
Real Estate and Property Law and Representation in Complex Real Estate Transactions - The firm specializes in comprehensive and close accompaniment of leading real estate companies and executing contractors in complex real estate ventures, covering all aspects and stages of development: from land acquisition - including due diligence and advice on the land purchase, execution of the transaction, drafting and negotiating all relevant agreements, the project planning stage and obtaining the required approvals for project establishment, and engagement with the various consultants - through the construction and implementation stage, including the sale of units to buyers and up to the occupancy of the project. Additionally, the firm has unique and long-standing expertise in representing buyer groups that organize for consolidated purchases from developers at the pre-sale stage (pre-Sale), to obtain improved commercial and legal terms.
Planning and Construction - The firm provides a professional and comprehensive legal framework for private clients, developers, and contractors throughout all planning and construction proceedings. The service includes the accompaniment and promotion of plans and licensing at all stages - from the preparation of planning documents to the receipt of the final approval from planning institutions. As part of its activity, the firm represents clients in objection proceedings and hearings before local, district, and national planning committees, as well as in courts at all instances. The fundamental legal accompaniment also includes conducting preliminary reviews at planning institutions, assisting in the submission of permit applications, and providing legal opinions.
Urban Renewal - The firm accompanies developers in TAMA 38 and Pinui-Binui (evacuation-construction) projects of broad scope throughout the country, with a combined value of tens of billions of NIS, including projects in Netanya, Herzliya, Ramat Gan, and Jerusalem. Among other things, the firm regularly accompanies “Beit Hadash Group” across all the company’s projects, which include the planning of more than 1,000 housing units, including joint projects with Kardan Real Estate and Nativ Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Development Group. The firm specializes in accompanying and representing clients in both the contractual-legal aspect and in planning and licensing proceedings, accompanying projects from the stage of obtaining the signatures of rights holders in the property, through representation before planning institutions for the approval of the plan, to the completion of construction and delivery of the project - including the delivery of the new apartments and their registration in the Land Registry (Tabu) in the names of the rights holders.

Notable Mega-Project Examples

Lohamei HaGeta’ot Compound Project, Jerusalem
500 residential units and 12,000 sq.m. of commercial and employment space
Stern 18A – 20A Project, Jerusalem
232 units – a mix of residential, commercial, and employment.
Panama 4 Project, Jerusalem
111 units – a mix of residential and commercial.
HaRa’ah Project, Ramat Gan
220 units – a mix of residential, offices, and commercial.
Infrastructure, Energy, and Environmental Quality – The firm specializes in accompanying a leading group of companies in the field of waste treatment, recycling, and landfills. The accompaniment includes the purchase of land for landfills and the management of complex licensing and planning proceedings; as of today, the firm is conducting negotiations for the establishment of a power station valued at approximately NIS 4.5 billion. The legal handling of these transactions, as well as traditional real estate transactions, includes, among other things: conducting due diligence, drafting contracts and representing in complex real estate transactions, drafting engagement agreements with contractors, advisors, and planners, accompanying the planning and licensing process, rights registration, parcel registration (parcellation), and the like.

Firm Management

Adv. Sefi Zilberstein – Founding Partner
Adv. Zilberstein is the founder of Sefi Zilberstein, Advocates. He began his professional career in 2005 at Goldfarb, Seligman & Co., where he served as a partner in the Real Estate, Planning, and Construction department for eight years (from 2016 onward). During that period, the department - the largest of its kind in the country - accompanied hundreds of projects across all areas of real estate and complex real estate transactions. He holds broad and in-depth familiarity with the real estate world in its legal and economic aspects, together with accumulated legal experience spanning decades in the field. He specializes, among other things, in land law, complex transactions, real estate development, and representation of buyer groups. In the framework of his work, he accompanies large-scale projects in the residential, commercial, office, logistics, and energy sectors, from land acquisition and planning through to completion. His clients include private and public real estate and construction companies among the largest in the market, benefiting from ongoing advice and close accompaniment in diverse projects. In terms of education, he holds an LL. B (with honors) from Reichman University and a minor in Government (with honors) from the same institution, from 2005. He has been a member of the Israel Bar Association since 2006, and since 2012 has served as a member of the Association’s Property and Real Estate Committee. In addition, within the framework of pro bono activities carried out on a personal basis, he is a member of the Young Hadassah Without Borders organization of Hadassah Medical Center and has represented the organization in the United States.
Adv. Topaz Ben Zvi, Partner
Adv. Ben Zvi began her legal career at Goldfarb, Gross, Seligman & Co., and subsequently served for several years as in-house legal counsel at a leading construction company - experience that greatly contributed to her expertise in real estate. In the framework of her role, she gained rich and unique experience accompanying contractors throughout all stages of the project, from early planning stages through to execution and final completion of the venture. As a lawyer specializing in real estate, Adv. Ben Zvi provides comprehensive legal accompaniment to the firm’s clients in various transactions, including sale and purchase agreements, urban renewal projects, the submission of tenders, and tenancy agreements. In terms of education, she holds an LL. B (with honors) from the Academic Track of the College of Management. She has been a member of the Israel Bar Association since 2021, and since 2024 has served as a member of the Association’s Property and Real Estate Committee.