Insights & News

On  12 February 2015, Marie Tsion, head of employment law, will participate in the HR Managers Forum of the northern region. The forum includes CEO’s and HR managers of leading companies and meets once a month at the Upper Galilee Regional Council.

The Magistrate's Court in Tel Aviv accepted the claim of "Mika Benroy", a company  owned by Mr. Aviad Caspi, a former business development vice president of Whitewater Holdings. Caspi is also the  son in law of businessman, Edwin (Benny) Tish. Caspi submitted the claim  against  Whitewater Holdings, of which Uri Yogev is the founder and former Chairman of its Board of Directors .

The Magistrate's Court decided that Whitewater Holdings must pay an amount of approximately 127 000 NIS to "Mika Benroy" (Caspi’s company) for services given to Whitewater Holdings, for which no consideration had been paid.

The suit was filed by Adv. Zohar Lande, Adv. Shai Sharvit and Adv. Itay Wigoda from Barnea 

The new amendment to the Notice to Employee will require employers to give written responses to job applicants whether or not they have been hired. The new amendment will take effect at the end of January.

Today, hiring procedures can include a number of in-house interviews, assessment centers and more. Thus the employee recruitment process has become increasingly longer. Candidates often have to wait lengthy periods before receiving a reply from employers and sometimes do not get a reply at all.  Candidates are left with considerable uncertainty regarding the important issue of pursuing a career. The amendment is intended to address these issues.

 

There is no doubt that Israel has a thriving high-tech industry. Israel has developed a high-tech eco-system that encompasses companies at various stages of development. It has also built up an extensive community of investors and development centers of international companies. The high-tech industry in the start-up nation has attracted and is attracting corporate giants from around the world to operate their development centers in Israel. This is done via the acquisition of Israeli companies or as part of a business strategy of creating a presence in Israel.

 

In 2014, the online gambling industry faced many challenges, mainly due to regulatory issues but also due unsatisfactory results in several jurisdictions with the US States of Nevada and New Jersey probably the most disappointing in this respect.
According to our head of gambling practice, 2015 will probably be challenging as well. One reason for this is that the new legislation in England, which came into effect towards the end of 2014, requiring any online gambling operator offering is services in England to operate under an online gambling license issued by the local Gambling Commission, as well as pay a substantial gambling tax. For the full article, please Click here

Adv. Zohar Lande , senior partner and the head of the Litigation department at Barnea, was chosen by the prestigious "CorporateLiveWire " guide to the legal profession as "Lawyer of the year 2014" in Litigation & Dispute resolution in Israel.

The new VAT amendments will lower the cost of clinical trials on humans in Israel. The amendment to the VAT legislation is expected to benefit international companies which conduct clinical trials in Israel.

Adv. Harel Perlmutter, who specializes in international taxation at Barnea & Co., was interviewed to Globes and stated that: "the new amendments will have two major implications – Firstly when the Israeli company acquires the medication from an overseas company, the Israeli company will not have to pay VAT or Customs Duty in Israel (the Israeli company will usually pass on these costs to the overseas company). Secondly, when the Israeli company charges fees for its services to the overseas company for doing the trials, the Israeli company will charge VAT at zero per cent."

Barnea has once again been chosen to be included in the 2015 InterGame Year Book & Directory as one of the law firms advising the gaming and games industries.

We are the authors of the Israeli chapter in the International Comparative Legal Guide to Gambling 2015. The Guide covers a range of topics including: relevant authorities and legislation, application for a license and license restrictions, enforcement, liability and more. This publication is one of 38 ICLG guides published which cover all major practice areas and provide in-house counsel with a legal overview in different jurisdictions.

The Treatment of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Batteries Law came into effect recently. Asaf Shalev,head of Environmental Law at Barnea & Co explains the Law and its ramifications for suppliers, distributors and marketers.

The Real Estate department, headed by Ariel Nadler, represented Israel Natural Gas Lines in the petition filed against it by Kibbutz Regavim. The judge rejected the petition stating that she did not see a reason to interfere in the government’s decision. In her view, once the safety concerns had been cleared, the kibbutz should have withdrawn the petition, which it did not do, The kibbutz will have to bear petition costs of NIS 4,000,000. 

As an expert in the technology field, Micky Barnea was invited to lead the high-tech panel at the Israel’s 2nd Foreign Law Firms Conference. The panel: Start-Up Nation Vs. Exit Nation will deal with the effect of startup nation on the Israeli legal scene, the current trends in high-tech exit transactions, IPO's and the interface between Israeli and foreign law firms in high-tech legal work.

Ezra Katzen was a featured speaker at a meeting of the Association of Corporate Counsel – Israel (ACCI) in November.  The topic of his address was “The General Counsel, The Most Important Link in the Options Chain.”  Drawing on his many years of experience as an in-house counsel, Ezra spoke about the legal and practical challenges in administering an Employee Stock Options Plan from the perspective of the in-house lawyer.

The meeting was jointly sponsored by Barnea and ESOP-Excellence, and was attended by general counsels and senior in-house attorneys from approximately 40 Israeli companies.

Our Head on Internet Department was nominated as a leading practitioner in the field of entertainment in Israel by the 2014 edition of Whos' Who Legal, one of the leading global legal guides.

The Tel Aviv and Central District of the Israel Bar Association, is delighted to invite you to a unique conference held for the second time in Israel, discussing the entry and activity of foreign law firms in Israel. Michael Barnea, head of technology department at Barnea, will lead the Hi-Tech panel.

Zohar Lande's criticism of the Anti-Trust authority for its conduct in the Israeli Food market- published in Calcalist

Global Invacom Group has completed yesterday its acquisition of Israel-based OnePath Networks. OnePath - which trades as Foxcom - is one of the pioneers in radio frequency over fibre technology. It provides products and services to major satellite operators, teleports and broadcasters in over 35 countries.

Barnea and The MIT Enterprise Forum of Israel is delighted to invite you to a unique seminar: Time to Start-Up! Follow the Challenging Road. The event will take place on 19th November 2014, 16:30 - 20:15 at the Tel Aviv University.

In a meeting held by the Knesset Finance Committee on the high cost of living, Antitrust Commissioner Prof. David Gilo called on consumers to organize boycotts to pressure retailers and manufacturers to reduce their prices. He said: “An occasional boycott is not enough. Consumers need to undertake a personal boycott every day, to vote with their feet and compare competing prices.” Zohar Lande senior partner at Barnea & Co, disagrees. Zohar was interviewed by Maariv newspaper where he was quoted for saying "it is both unfair and unwise to ask the consumers to fix the high cost of living".

Tax treaties are intended to promote international trade by eliminating double taxation.  Although the Israeli Tax Authority and the Israeli Ministry of Finance have been reluctant to acknowledge a potential new double taxation treaty with Switzerland, the Swiss Finance Ministry has been more vocal. Swiss officials have confirmed that in recent weeks negotiations were indeed held with the Israeli tax authorities in connection with such proposed treaty between the countries.