Insights & News / Shai  Avnieli

Zohar Lande and Shai Avnieli represented Metpro DMY in an administrative appeal submitted to the Supreme Court, in which another bidder attempted to disqualify Metpro’s win in the tender for the management and planning of the M1 metro line. The Supreme Court accepted the district court’s position, recommending that the appellant withdraw its appeal and reach an agreement with Metpro regarding legal expenses.

Advs. Shai Avnieli and Tal Shirizli represented Metpro in a judicial review petition brought by Metro Dan contesting the results of the tender published by NTA for management of the Gush Dan metro project. The court dismissed the claims against Metpro and the other successful bidders, admonishing the petitioner's behavior. The court further ordered Metro Dan to cover ILS 85,000 in expenses for each respondent.

Shai Avnieli and Omer Ungar are representing Bareket in a lawsuit the construction company Longshine has filed against it. Longshine, which served as the main contractor in a project initiated by Bareket, was nine months late in delivery of the project. As a result, Bareket deducted approximately NIS 10 million from the construction account. 

We hosted a conference on tenders at our office together with the ACC Israel. Ronit Niederman, a partner in the Tenders and Projects Department, discussed tender negotiation strategies. Gal Rozent, head of the Competition and Antitrust Department, spoke about the role of competition in tenders. Among the guest speakers at the conference was Joy Sturm, a partner from international firm Hogan Lovells, who participated in a panel with Shai Avnieli. They discussed how to submit tenders in the US. Another keynote speaker was Gal Somech, legal advisor to the Haifa Port, who addressed the port’s privatization process.

Our firm is representing Shikun & Binui and Egged in an administrative petition filed with the Jerusalem District Court over the tender committee's decision not to disqualify the bids of French company Alstom and Russian company TMH in the tender for the Jerusalem Light Rail's Blue Line.

Advs. Zohar Lande, and Shai Avnieli provided representation in the matter.

In recent days, the story of an Arab citizen named Samar Graeb has made headlines. About a year ago, he bought a house in the "Hapoalim neighborhood" in Afula and applied to be accepted as a neighborhood resident. The neighborhood committee rejected his request, claiming that it was a neighborhood with a Jewish, Zionist, and secular character.

Firm partner Shai Avnieli is representing Mr. Graeb in proceedings before the neighborhood committee and has appealed its decision.

Next week, a meeting is expected to convene, during which members will vote on whether to accept or reject the neighborhood committee's decision.

As an expert in the infrastructure field, Shai Avnieli was interviewed for Calcalist’s podcast to provide his highlights for the year 2020. He analyzed how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the industry and where the infrastructure industry is headed.

The article mentions the Ministry of Finance's decision to exempt from a tender process LR Industries Ltd., an Israeli importer, thus allowing it to supply millions of COVID-19 testing kits to the Ministry of Health, at an estimated value of USD 7.7 million. In response, veteran Israeli company Biological Industries Bet Haemek filed an administrative appeal and a motion for an interim order against the decision. This process was led by Advs. Shai Avnieli and Shay Bello from our firm.

At the end of June, the Ministry of Construction and Housing announced that due to the coronavirus crisis the time in which a contractor can delay delivering an apartment without being sanctioned will increase to 100 days. Shai Avnieli, a partner in our Infrastructure Department, published an opinion article in Globes on the subject. He commented: "This decision, which stems from a desire to solve this complex issue, is indeed welcome. However, although this decision has a significant impact on the construction market in Israel, it does not fix the issues of the construction market as a whole, particularly not the infrastructure sector."

Israel is undertaking a massive transformation to modernize its infrastructure, with a series of projects in transport, energy, and defense. British magazine The Lawyer interviewed Shai Avnieli, an expert in the infrastructure area, on the subject. In his comments, Shai noted that providing legal advice for complex projects is not something just any lawyer can do. "This practice area is not some buzzword that lawyers can quickly adapt to and it is certainly impossible to quickly become adept in this field," he stressed.

Shai Avnieli served as a guest lecturer as part of an arbitration course held by the Israeli Association of Construction & Infrastructure Engineers.