Author: Yaniv Ozana

Hundreds gathered on the ERM rooftop as we welcomed the Kuang-Chi delegation from China. The event, which we co-hosted with clients Indigo, showcased the best of Israeli high tech as well as foreign investment opportunities in Israel.

The evening concluded a week-long trip in Israel for Kuang-Chi, a Chinese based technology conglomerate focused on dramatic innovation in the fields of aviation, robotics, material science, photonics and satellite technologies.

Introducing the evening was partner Amnon Epstein, head of our projects and finance practices with Dr. Liu Ruopeng, Founder of Kuang-Chi also addressing the attendees.

Among those that attended were Knesset minister Ayoob Kara and David Keyes, Foreign Media Advisor to the Prime Minister.

Pictures from the event can been viewed by clicking here.

Technology practice

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)’s Technology practice regularly provides legal advice to leading Israeli and international clients from pre-incorporation through to exit, as well as on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel and abroad. Our cross-border focus, effective approach, cohesive partnership and strong team of excellent individuals are widely acknowledged by leading international and Israeli technology companies, entrepreneurs, start-ups, investors and major legal directories.

ERM was delighted to host a round table discussion that explored a number of areas that medical device companies need to consider when operating or planning to operate in China. Topics ranged from the regulatory environment in China, to changes and developments within the Chinese medical device industry.

Introducing the discussion was partner Simon Marks who heads our technology practice together with Gadi Ginot, founder and CEO of Physio-Logic Ltd.

Speakers included: Edwards You LYU (CEO & Co-Founder, Vadi Ventures); Eliran Elimelech (YR-IS, Former Israeli Commercial Attaché in Beijing); Ofer Ben Zvi (Regulatory Affairs – China, Physio-logic Ltd.); Roy S. Melzer (Patent Attorney, Adv. Ehrlich & Fenster); and Carice Witte (Founder, SIGNAL).

High-Tech and Start-Ups practice

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)’s high-tech and start-ups practice regularly provides legal advice to leading Israeli and international clients from pre-incorporation through to exit, as well as on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel and abroad. Our cross-border focus, effective approach, cohesive partnership and strong team of excellent individuals are widely acknowledged by leading international and Israeli technology companies, entrepreneurs, start-ups, investors and major legal directories.

For more information, please contact Simon Marks.

Physio-Logic

Physio-Logic is a vendor offering an integrated, full service solution for managing medical device Quality Assurance (QA), Regulatory Affairs (RA) and Clinical Research (CRO). Physio-Logic’s team of 30 experts -senior highly experienced, with a vast international experience with large corporates and start-ups – has a track record of successful execution of global regulatory strategies including: FDA submissions, post FDA inspection remediation programs, CE marking, AMAR registration, CFDA submissions; of  ISO 13485 certification, QMS and design V&V programs and international first-in-man and pivotal clinical trials for all device classes. Physio-Logic serves start-ups, the top global medical device manufacturers and Israel’s most reputable serial entrepreneurs. www.physio-logic.co.il.

ERM is thrilled that our position as a leading firm in our core practice areas has again been recognised in the latest Legal500 rankings. Our Finance and Banking, Energy and Infrastructure, Corporate and M&A, Technology and Dispute Resolution groups have all received strong praise. This is testament to some of the excellent mandates on which we have been honoured to receive instructions in the last year.

We are equally proud that Amnon Epstein was noted as a leader in his field and every single partner of the firm has been mentioned, demonstrating our breadth of service.

We look forward to continuing to serve our international and Israeli clients on their most complex transactions.

For more information about some of recent assignments please visit our Media page or contact one of our Team.

ERM was extremely proud to sponsor, for the second time, an LGBTech event, hosted by British Ambassador David Quarrey and aimed at promoting opportunities for Israeli tech companies in the UK. ERM has a wealth of experience advising on matters with a UK link and several of our lawyers are qualified to advise on English law.

The networking event, which was co-organised by ERM’s Jeremy Seeff, saw 130 senior tech figures meet to hear from the Ambassador as well as a panel moderated by Dan Yalon (Executive VP Business Development at Stratasys) and consisting of Assaf Rappaport (Founder & CEO of Adallom), Moran Leshem Bar (CEO of Geektime) & Naomi Krieger Carmy (Director of UK Israel Tech Hub).

The event raised 5000 NIS for Maavarim, an organisation that helps members of the transgender community into the workplace.

Jeremy Seeff is an associate in our high-tech and start-ups and corporate and M&A practices.

High-Tech and Start-Ups and Corporate and M&A practices

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)’s high-tech and start-ups and corporate and M&A practices are widely renowned for their cross-border expertise and ERM regularly advises leading Israeli and international clients on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel or by Israeli companies abroad.

Please click here to read more about our Technology practice and Corporate and M&A practice.

ERM partner Natalie Noy moderated a panel that included entrepreneurs, representatives from technologies companies and a VC at an event organised by Harvard Kennedy School. The panel session aimed at showing the benefits and challenges of being an entrepreneur in Israel.

Natalie is a partner in our high-tech and start-ups and corporate and M&A practices.

Panelists included Ilai Fallach co-founder of StoreSmarts, Tomer Dikerman Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Comeet, Chaim Motzen Co-Founder of Gigawatt Global, Barak Rabinowitz, Partner at Genesis Partners and Nir Marom, founder of three energy companies (Greenlet Technologies, SunIsrael and Nova-Lumos).

High-Tech and Start-Ups and Corporate and M&A practices

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)’s High-Tech and Start-Ups and Corporate and M&A practices are widely renowned for their cross-border expertise and ERM regularly advises leading Israeli and international clients on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel or by Israeli companies abroad.

For more information, please contact Natalie Noy or another member of our team.

ERM is proud to have co-sponsored The 4th Israel Smart Energy Conference which brought together around 250 Energy & IT market and industry leaders, government officials, developers and entrepreneurs from around the world.

Amnon Epstein, head of ERM’s projects and finance practices, led a panel at the conference on “Opportunities and Challenges with Distributed Generation”.

Panelists included Dr. Nanad Katic, Head of Smart solutions BizDev, Mr. Eitan Parnass, Founder and CEO of the Green Energy Association of Israel, Dr. Ilan Suliman, CEO & Owner, ISCON – Economic and regulatory consulting and Mr Oded Agmon, Head of regulation Department, Public Utility Authority – Electricity.

The conference focused on Energy Utilities Business Innovation; Microgrids and empowered communities; and Smart Energy as a path to Smart Cities.

Energy and Infrastructure and Corporate and M&A and Technology practices

ERM is considered a market leader in the renewable energy market, regularly acting for many of the leading Israeli and international owners, developers, EPC contractors and financiers in this sector.

ERM’s Technology and Corporate and M&A practices are also widely renowned for their cross-border expertise and ERM regularly advises leading Israeli and international clients on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel or by Israeli companies abroad.

For more information, please contact Amnon Epstein or another member of our team.

ERM was delighted to host MBA students from the Tepper School of Business at the University of Carneggie Mellon in Pittsburgh, for a discussion on venture capital in Israel and the Israeli high tech market.

Speaking to the group were representatives from Maverick Ventures, a venture capital fund focusing on growth stage Israel related technology ventures and Hoop, a fast-growing Tel Aviv based start-up which develops an innovative social video product.

Introducing the talk were ERM’s Natalie Noy, a partner in our technology and corporate and M&A practices and Jeremy Seeff, an associate who also specialises in these practice areas.

High-Tech and Corporate and M&A practices

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)’s high-tech and corporate and M&A practice are widely renowned for their cross-border expertise and ERM regularly advises leading Israeli and international clients on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel or by Israeli companies abroad.

Please click here to read more about our high-tech and start-ups and corporate and M&A practice.

ERM hosted a round table discussion on amendment 12 to the Control of Financial Services (Provident Funds) Law – 2005, which will take effect on 5 February 2016 and which might affect the pension budget provided by employers. Taking part in the discussion were around 30 employment lawyers from leading Israeli law firms.

As agree during the talks, Maya Schneider, who leads the employment practice at ERM, has sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance seeking clarification on the amendment.

To read ERM’s analysis of amendment 12 and its potential implications in Hebrew, please click here.

Employment practice

ERM’s Employment Law department regularly acts for international and Israeli clients, as well as for senior executives, from the private and public sectors, which operate, inter alia, in industry and in the high tech, banking and real estate sectors.

For more information, please contact Maya Schneider.

ERM partner Asaf Rimon has featured in Globes, a leading Israeli financial newspaper, in their coverage of the round table discussion hosted by the firm with former South African opposition leader Tony Leon, now Senior Advisor to K2 Business Intelligence.

The event, which was attended by various industry leaders, addressed the topic of “Doing Business in Africa” with Tony imparting his wide knowledge of the region.

Tony observed that: “Resource-dependent economies are obviously keenly sensitive to downturn in metal and energy prices and the effects are being felt across most West African coastal states. But common to all of Africa, and a huge trade and investment deterrent, are chronic infrastructural bottlenecks. Transport costs in the continent are reckoned to be 63% higher than in other developing regions and a 2010 World Bank report estimates that $93bn is needed to bring in basic infrastructure across the continent.”

Asaf, partner in ERM’s energy and infrastructure team stated that: “the thirst in Africa for Israeli knowledge and entrepreneurship is no longer limited to defense and security matters and many Israeli companies are currently active in Africa. Foreign companies and banks negotiating the establishment of projects in Africa will commonly prefer selecting London as a place of jurisdiction or arbitration and will choose for the governing law to be English law rather than that of the location of the project”.

Please click here to read the full article in Hebrew.

International expertise

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM) is regularly ranked as experts in the leading international legal directories, including IFLR 1000, Chambers and Partners, Legal500 in our core practice areas (corporate, finance, projects and technology) and as one of the leading Israeli law firms.

For more information, please contact Asaf Rimon or another member of our team.

Recent draft regulations published by the Israeli Defense Export Controls Agency (DECA), propose to increase the supervision of exported Israeli cyber systems, by requiring Israeli companies which export cyber products and services with offensive capabilities to first apply for a permit from DECA, a process similar to when exporting weapons systems. 

Since its publication, the long-awaited draft regulations have put the Israeli cyber sector on alert and many of its representatives have gone on the offensive by arguing that Israel should not be the pioneer in tightening supervision of the cyber sector, warning of the potential economic consequences for the Israeli economy.

Just how substantial is the cyber sector in Israel? In 2014, Israel exported $3 billion worth of cyber products and services and the expectation was that this number would increase by nearly 10% in 2015. Furthermore, there are some 300 active cyber companies in the Israeli market including notable names like Check Point (NASDAQ:CHKP) with over $1 billion in revenues from the first three quarters of 2015, Adallom (acquired by google for upwards of $300 million) and CyberArk (NASDAQ:CYBR(, which is reported currently to be negotiating its sale to Check Point. On 12 January 2016, the Financial Times ran an article citing that Israel had attracted 20% of the global private-sector investments in cyber (second only to the US) and laying out Israel’s plans to further strengthen this market, including an initiative to erect a hub in southern Israel to allow cyber companies to work alongside military units and leading research teams.

Despite the unrest caused by the draft regulations, we at ERM think that the panic may be premature for two main reasons.

Firstly, the general public has three weeks to comment on the draft. This time should be spent wisely by the industry in order clearly to state its position to the Israeli Government, which for its part, has a great interest in the future of the Israeli cyber industry. Assuming that the end-result is indeed sensible, the proposed regulations would still allow the vast majority of well-advised companies, regardless of size, to continue with their businesses.

Secondly, the draft regulations only applies to cyber products and services with offensive capabilities, which could indeed be viewed as weapons. Israel may be a pioneer in the field of regulating the export of such sensitive technologies, but it is widely expected by professionals that many leading jurisdictions will follow suit. Israeli cyber companies must be prepared for tomorrow’s regulatory environment.

To download a PDF copy of this bulletin, please click here.

High-Tech and Start-Ups and Corporate and M&A Practices

Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)’s Technology Practice and Corporate and M&A practice are widely renowned for their cross-border expertise and ERM regularly advises leading Israeli and international clients on the most complex transactions carried out in Israel or by Israeli companies abroad. Please click here to read more about our high-tech and start-ups and corporate and M&A practice

To learn more about ERM’s technology practice please contact Nimrod Rosenblum, Simon Marks or Natalie Noy.