Impressive achievements for Israeli high-tech, with exits and IPOs worth $11 billion mean the high-tech market is flourishing, and the law firms dealing with the market continue to expand. One such firm is Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz, which has recently added Adv. Atir Jaffe to its ranks as a senior partner.
Jaffe is moving to Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz from Fischer Behar Chen Well Orion & Co, where he worked for 18 years. However, he is not carrying out this move alone, but together with two additional lawyers, Yael Shimon-Many and Keren Shmueli, who are joining the firm along with him.
Adv. Jaffe said, “Joining Pearl Cohen allows me to provide my clients with optimal commercial legal services, as Pearl Cohen is an international law firm with strong IP and patent practices. The move was accepted with great understanding by the partners and lawyers at Fischer Behar Chen, which was my warm home for 18 years. I retain good connections with my colleagues there and believe that we will meet in the future.”
Adv. Jaffe’s “defection” from Fischer Behar continues the ongoing trend in Israel in which senior lawyers are moving between firms. Over the past weeks the M&A Department of Zellermayer Pelossof, headed by Adv. Doni Toledano, has moved to Erdinast, Ben Nathan Toledano and Co.; shortly afterwards Erdinast announced that Adv. Johnny Finkelstein, and the Budgeting Department of Tadmor-Yuval Levy & Co., are also joining Erdinast’s ranks. And only last week leading litigator Adv. Eyal Rosovsky led 20 members of his litigation team from Zellermayer Pelossoft to Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal.
Jaffe, Shimon-Many and Shmueli are joining other lawyers who began to work at Pearl Cohen during the past half year, including Adv. Henriette Fuchs, who arrived from Barnea & Co., and who leads the International Taxes Department; Adv. Irma Tscherina, who arrived from Herzog Fox & Neeman; and Adv. Lior Baruch, who joined Pearl Cohen from Naschitz Brandes Amir, as additional support in the field of advising high-tech companies and startups.
Additional lawyers who recently joined Pearl Cohen include: Adv. David Sant, who joined the London branch of the firm. Sant, who transferred from the British Bird & Bird firm, will lead the Patent Litigation Department in Europe. Furthermore, Adv. Brenda Flockhart-Shanks joined Pearl Cohen’s New York Branch after leaving the Proskauer Rose firm.
Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz is one of the leading law firms in Israel for the representation of high-tech and biomed companies. The firm deals with a wide range of fields, primarily intellectual property, commercial law, the capital market, litigation, labor law and more. The firm has several branches in Israel (Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Haifa), in the US (New York and Boston) and in London. Among its main clients are international and Israeli companies in the high-tech, medical research and industrial fields.
The firm's managing partner Adv. Zeev Pearl said, “The partners joining us, led by Atir Jaffe, all coming from other leading firms, was made possible by the uniqueness and variety of our firm, and our ability to provide comprehensive legal services in Israel and around the world.
“We are the only firm in Israel that has independent branches abroad, which allows our clients to receive legal advice simultaneously in Israel, the US and London, from one team. While other firms are aided by peers - our lawyers, in the offices in New York, Boston, London and soon in California, provide, hand in hand with the team in Israel, comprehensive and extensive legal counsel in all of the fields that are crucial to our clients.”
Pearl added, “Along with our exclusive abilities in the international arena, our firm was recognized in 2015 as the largest patent firm in Israel. This additional practice is important to high-tech clients who lean heavily on unique patents, which provide them with a commercial advantage. Without appropriate protection for these patents (through enforcement and filing), high-tech companies are exposed to theft of their ideas and substantial harm to their deals.Moreover, our firm also provides all in-house services, a practice that yields better results and minimizes expenses for clients.”
Preventing losing talent and clients
Globes: Why did you choose Adv. Atir Jaffe specifically?
Pearl said, “The choice was mutual. High-tech industry requires legal services in three main fields: the ability to protect the intellectual property of the company, raising funds and hiring promising individuals, and the ability to export the technology abroad in due time - this is done through mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and growing subsidiaries abroad, and the relocation of key employees. The fact that Pearl Cohen is recognized in Israel as a leader in the aforementioned fields, and as the only firm in Israel with significant presence in the US and Europe, fits like a glove for the high-tech companies that Atir represents.”
Adv. Jaffe left a large firm in order to join your firm. Isn’t there collegiality between firms?
Pearl: “There is a lot of collegiality between Pearl Cohen and other firms in Israel and abroad, and specifically between Pearl Cohen and Fischer Behar Chen, whom we highly appreciate.”
Nevertheless, you took important human capital from them.
“The movement of minds and talent between firms is natural and expected, and this occurs in all almost every firm at one point or another; therefore, the matter is usually received with understanding. Such was the case in this move. The challenge presented to firms in our time is in knowing how to cooperate and compete at the same time.”
Are there many defections and movements in the legal field? Don’t you worry that your senior lawyers too will leave for other or competing firms?
“The dynamic presently, whether in the legal field or the commercial field, is of movement. This is true regarding employees in high-tech companies and researchers in research institutions at universities that leave in order to start independent enterprises; this is also true for lawyers."
“As the market changes, every company and firm need to adjust themselves to the new surroundings, in order to attempt to prevent losing talent (as well as clients). We did this when we understood that the commercial market became global, and so we immediately expanded and opened our doors in New York, Boston and London, and soon we will also expand to California."
“In addition, during the past few years we have made sure to preserve our uniqueness and leadership in the IP field, while simultaneously expanding to additional practice areas, which turns our practice into a ‘one-stop shop’. The constant adaptation to market changes contributes both to the growth of the team and to the feeling of fulfillment for the lawyers who choose to remain part of a relevant and leading firm.”
The next Check Point and Waze
As those who represent many high-tech companies, what are the trends that can be observed in this field? Where is this market going?
“The market is moving towards more professionalism and experience. Following a lengthy period in which there were thousands of ventures, in our assessment, there will be a process of natural selection, where the innovative, successful and relevant ventures will thrive. As far as Pearl Cohen is concerned, we adapt ourselves in order to be as relevant as possible regarding the portfolio of legal services the companies require, including in the IP field (the main asset that high-tech companies are developing) and the relevant markets (US, Europe, and Asia in the future).”
Despite the ongoing successes for Israeli high-tech, it is difficult to see the next Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) or Waze on the horizon. Do you also feel this way?
“We must not measure the market in terms of months. In the long term we are certain that Israel will produce promising companies that are significant in their field. Regarding new initiatives, we too hope, like many others, that among the many startups, influential and large companies will grow, and not only those that develop one or two products, and are sold. To this end, the conditions for development are required; and the selection of startups that I mentioned before will aid the companies that succeed in raising more resources, and to grow into significant and large companies.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 31, 2016
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