Insights & News

Adv. Maya Zisser, Partner in the Real Estate Department at Barnea, was interviewed by Bizportal following the approval of the third apartment tax bill by the Finance Committee. Maya commented that we will not see a wave of sales of flats by owners of third apartments, but instead, owners will pass on the burden to tenants by way of increased rentals.

Adv. Marie Tsion, Head of Employment Department at Barnea was interviewed by The Marker. Marie presented the most important developments in labor law which will impact upon 2017. Marie commented that employee's right to privacy in the workplace was the focus of discussion in respect of 2017 and will continue to be discussed in the coming year.

Barnea together with ChannelSmart and Syneron-Candela will host an event on December 22nd on best practices for go-to-market strategy and channel development. Adv. Micky Barnea, our Managing Partner, will highlight the important information to include in Distribution Agreements.

Adv. Ariel Nadler, Partner and Head of the Real Estate Department at Barnea, was interviewed by Bizportal, following “Mechir Lemishtaken”'s cancellation of the winners because of funding problems. According to Ariel, when financing through a bank guarantee, the payment plan can be 20% of the payment for the flat at the beginning and 80% when the entry and permit is issued ("tofes 4"). The recommendation is to leave as much money for the last payment. 

Adv. Micky Barnea  will participate in a round-table meeting with other leading law firms regarding the employment of Arab interns and lawyers. The meeting was initiated by the Deans of the Universities' Faculty of Law.

Adv. Harel Perlmutter, Head of the Tax Department at Barnea was interviewed by Ynet regarding the expected tax amendments going into effect in 2017.

We were interviewed by several Israeli newspapers after Nochi Dankner was sentenced to two years' imprisonment following his conviction for stock manipulation. We noted that, unlike the verdict, which created the impression that Dankner would receive a harsher punishment, it appears that the District Court sought to impose a relatively lenient sentence that would nevertheless not prompt the prosecution to appeal.

We published a comparative review in Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law on the regulation of crowdfunding. The article examines how three jurisdictions—the United Kingdom, the United States, and Israel—have addressed the regulatory aspects of the equity crowdfunding sector, and compares the different approaches adopted by their regulators.

Adv. Yuval Lazi, Partner at Barnea represented Sun Corporation of Japan in a mutual investment with Alibaba the Chinese retail and Internet giant in the Israeli company Infiniti AR, which is developing augmented reality systems for medicine, training, and games.

Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss, Partner at Barnea in an article on Convertible Notes. According to Ariella, Convertible notes are an attractive instrument for investors, they can also be advantageous to entrepreneurs and if drafted correctly should balance the interests of both parties.

Micky Barnea joined IBM Alpha Zone Accelerator 4th Class as a mentor. The program focuses on post Seed and Round A funded companies with the aim to create a long term Technology and Business partnership with IBM worldwide.

Adv. Yuval Lazi, Partner at Barnea, interviewed by the blog 'Talks about Entrepreneurship' and the granting of stock options to a start-up's employees. Yuval discussed the possibility for an employee to sell his options, valuation of options and how stock options are taxed.

We represented D.G.I Media Ltd. in a precedent-setting administrative enforcement settlement with the Israel Securities Authority concerning forex trading.

This week the Supreme Court rejected Yaakov Peri's demand for a tax reduction from the tax authorities from an exercise of options received by the public company, Lipman Electronic Engineering. Adv. Harel Perlmutter, Head of the Tax Department at Barnea was interviewed by Globes and noted that during the period in which the controversy arose, there was a difference between corporate tax (35%) and capital gains tax (25%) for companies. Today, when the tax rates are identical, there are no implications arising from the nature of the tax imposed on the taxpayer.

Barnea represents iTrader, an online forex trading company, which is under investigation by the Israeli Securities Authority. Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Moran Bickel from the Litigation department were interviewed by The Marker and commented that they hope the investigation by the ISA, which focuses on the company's activities during the period in which it was entitled to act as a trading platform, will end soon.

Following reports on the voluntary retirement programs that are promoted by the Israel’s largest banks, our Head of the Employment Department at Barnea was interviewed by Globes. She commented that a successful voluntary retirement program is one which creates a situation where the employer offers retirement to certain workers, without harming the functioning of the organization, which often relies on the knowledge and experience of the veterans.

Our firm represented Hadad Brothers, Worldwide Judaica Artists, in a claim by a service provider with an independent business, that after 17 years of engagement argued for a recognition of an employee-employer relationship and filed a claim for various social benefits in the sum of 1.5 Million NIS.  After 2.5 years of legal proceedings, the court this week denied the claim in full.

Barnea is hosting today a seminar for students from the IDC Legal Clinic for Start-Ups on various issues including founding agreement, labor law and tax issues, privacy policy, entrepreneurship and more. The cooperation is part of the firm's pro bono activities.

Barnea, hosted today a delegation of 50 community and entrepreneurial organizations from Barcelona and mayors from the region of Catalonia, which were invited to Israel by Startau, Tel Aviv University Entrepreneurship Center. The event was held as part of a series of meetings of the delegation with leaders of the technological and entrepreneurial environment in Israel.

Adv. Ariel Nadler, Partner and Head of the Real Estate Department at Barnea was interviewed by Ynet and commented that opening the market to foreign companies is a positive move. He also addressed the question of problems that may arise for the consumer who is required to deal with a foreign company. Ariel commented that he is convinced that the Ministries of Finance and Construction will ensure adequate securities to address the issue of deficiencies and quality construction.