Head of legal | Nestlé
Alberto studied law at University of Warwick and Tel Aviv University. Prior to that, he graduated in international relations at the University of Geneva. Pessah has been acting as general...
Associate general counsel, Latin America and Southern Europe countries geography | Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Chief legal officer and corporate secretary | Shapir Civil and Marine Engineering
Vice president, general legal counsel and company secretary | Infinya
Vice president, general counsel, director of the legal department and board member | Shufersal
Associate corporate secretary, executive general counsel global corporate affairs team | Teva Pharmaceuticals
Legal counsel | Caesarea Development Corporation Edmund Benjamin de Rothschild
Vice president and general counsel | Alon Blue Square Israel
Executive vice president and global general counsel | Fox Group
Aya Ben David Ashbel is the executive vice president and the global general counsel of Fox Group — a publicly traded company and a leading retail group with extensive businesses...
Deputy CEO, company secretary and general counsel | Israel Shipyards Industries
Chief legal officer | ironSource
Dalia Litay is the chief legal officer of ironSource, which recently merged with Unity Software. She has been with ironSource for over eight years, overseeing all legal matters and managing...
Director, associate general counsel | Tower Semiconductor
Head of legal and regulatory affairs division - banking and litigation | Israel Discount Bank
Head of legal counseling, business development, M&A and securities deputy general counsel | Bank Hapoalim
General counsel and entrepreneur | LawFlex and LawFlex Designed Solutions
Corporate vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Radware
Deputy general counsel and head of HR | NVIDIA
Gideon Rosenberg is the deputy general counsel at NVIDIA Corporation and the head of HR for Nvidia Israel. He has over 20 years of experience and is qualified in Israel...
Vice president global operations and general counsel | Oosto
Gil Banyas serves as vice president global operations and general counsel for Oosto, a global AI technology company. Banyas leads Oosto’s global operations and legal affairs and is responsible for...
General counsel and company secretary | Carasso Real Estate
Harel Shoham’s business and legal experience spans over the past 18 years as a lawyer in various working environments, ranging from real estate, commercial law and litigation, regulation, compliance, online...
General counsel | Papaya Gaming
Ifat Steinman is currently serving as the general counsel of Papaya Gaming — a global mobile skill gaming leader and one of the industry’s fastest-growing companies. Ifat is a highly...
Senior legal counsel | Varonis Systems
Ilana Berman-Nir spent the first decade of her career focusing on employment matters while working primarily in Herzog, one of Israel’s leading law firms. Over the past seven years, Ilana...
Vice president, corporate legal counsel and company secretary | OPC Energy
General counsel and vice president operations | Glassbox
Itzhak joined Glassbox in 2017, bringing over a decade of legal, compliance and operations experience to Glassbox. Prior to joining Glassbox, Itzhak served as a legal counsel at a leading...
Vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Cellcom Israel
Vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Nova
Executive vice president and global general counsel | ICL Group
General counsel | Electra Consumer Products
Lirik began her legal career at Meitar law firm as a member of the IP and commercial transaction group. Lirik is the general counsel of the rapidly growing Electra Consumer...
General counsel | Sygnia
Mark brings over 15 years of experience in corporate and high tech law. Before joining Sygnia, he led legal affairs at Zerto – a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company- for over...
Executive vice president, general counsel and company secretary | Israel Corp.
General counsel commercial and privacy, international markets | Teva Pharmaceuticals
First executive vice president, chief legal advisor, head of legal | Bank Leumi
General counsel Israel | Energean
Moran Erez has been the general counsel Israel for Energean since 2018. In this role, Moran utilises her legal knowledge to provide advice on legal matters and is also the...
General counsel and corporate secretary | Tower Semiconductor
Vice president, general counsel and company secretary | Azrieli Group
As vice president and general counsel of the Azrieli Group, Nirit is engaged in all aspects of the group’s operations. She provides legal guidance on transactions in multiple business sectors,...
General counsel | Lightricks
Noa grew up in Ramat Gan and served in an elite unit in the IDF. After her service, she received her LLB and Ba in economics from Tel Aviv University...
General counsel | Ratio Oil
Please note that Noa has moved on to a new role since the research took place.
Executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | ZIM Integrated Shipping Services
Noam Nativ has joined ZIM Integrated shipping 2018 in the role of executive vice president, general counsel and company secretary. Noam is an outstanding lawyer widely known in the legal...
Vice president legal | EDF Renewables Israel
Orit Manor Kaspersky is a seasoned and accomplished general counsel with robust business and legal expertise. Orit is a leading general counsel in the renewable energy field, managing a global...
Vice president, general counsel - international markets , IP and corporate litigations | Teva Pharmaceuticals
Vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, G&A | SolarEdge Technologies
Vice president, legal affairs and general counsel | Allot Communications
Senior legal counsel, South Europe legal team | FedEx Express Israel
Head of legal, international markets | Teva Pharmaceuticals
Rinat Shiran-Rasky is the head of legal, international markets at Teva Pharmaceuticals, leading a diverse team of more than thirty in-house lawyers and developing them to become legal guardians, strategic...
Senior vice president, deputy general counsel, regulation, privacy and compliance | Playtika
Chief legal officer | One1 Technologies Group
Ruthy Caspi is the chief legal officer at One1 Technologies Group — a USD$1bn company traded on the Tel- Aviv stock exchange. The company employs more than 6,000 employees around...
Legal director Israel and EMEA alliances and channels legal leader | Oracle Israel
Vice president, chief legal counsel and regulation | Danya Cebus
General counsel | Cato Networks
Shira is the general counsel at Cato Networks. She is an experienced legal counsel within the tech industry. Prior to Cato Networks, Shira served as vice president of legal at...
Corporate vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | NICE
Executive vice president, chief legal officer and head of IP | Stratasys
Executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Strauss Group
Chief legal counsel and insurance manager | Dalia Power Energies
Vice president legal and compliance affairs, general counsel | Natural Intelligence
Executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | MediWound
Chief legal officer and head of the legal department | Israel Innovation Authority
It has been a delight to lead the research for this year’s inaugural The Legal 500 GC Powerlist: Israel. It was an immense privilege to speak with the most outstanding in-house counsel in the country, getting to know them and their world of work during the course of putting together this publication, especially after our 2020 edition was unfortunately postponed due to the pandemic. Our interviews have touched upon a variety of topics, in particular, the introduction of legal tech, skills required to succeed in the in-house legal industry, and relationships with external law firms.
Undoubtedly one of the features that make this list unique is the variety of the content. Some lawyers shared insights into their career paths and studies; others decided to discuss business-related topics they are passionate about — startups, M&A transactions, the generational shift, the entry of Millenials in the work market and many more. Indeed, what emerges is that Israel-based lawyers are very committed, knowledgeable, and passionate about driving the success of their companies and the country at large.
The in-house counsel I had the pleasure to speak with have all been involved in significant transactions, re-innovating their companies’ legal departments, and driving the implementation of technology in their organisations. Those featured are the top internal lawyers in the country — they combine the best qualities, talents, and legal and business knowledge.
Israel-based in-house counsel have shared their tips on becoming as successful in the legal industry. Shmuel Sunray, general counsel at NSO Group, suggests — “I firmly believe that unique aspirations for innovation will fuel a general counsel’s success. My ultimate goal as general counsel for NSO Group is not just to transform our inner workings but to provide an inspirational guidepost for other players in this business, no matter who or where they are, to follow our example. Such unique qualities must include a sharp, educated ability to assess risk, no matter where that risk may materialise” – stressing how it is crucial in today’s unstable scenario to develop skills for mitigating and managing risk that can disrupt operations. Precious guidance is provided by David Mizrahi, chief legal officer at IES Holdings: “Aside from having comprehensive knowledge of the law across multiple industries, one of the essential qualities required to be successful is the ability to stay curious and continuously learn as industries evolve”.
Another key finding that emerges from this research is the positive attitude that general counsel in Israel have towards the implementation of legal tech. Yehonatan Birenboym, legal counsel at Space-Communication, sums up the view of his peers: “In the future, advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing are likely to have the most significant impact on the role of in-house legal teams. These technologies can automate repetitive tasks, improve contract review and analysis, and assist with legal research, among other things. This can allow legal teams to focus on higher-value work, such as providing strategic advice to their organisations.”
I want to extend the most profound gratitude to every in-house lawyer who participated in this first-of-its-kind edition of the GC Powerlist Israel 2023. I am incredibly proud to be able to introduce this list of Israel’s most outstanding, agile and acclaimed in-house lawyers.
Sara Maggi| Lead researcher: GC Powerlist Israel 2023
The Legal 500 was delighted to be in Tel Aviv on 22nd March, to celebrate the launch of the first-ever and most awaited GC Powerlist Israel. Our research team were joined by leading GCs from the country for a magnificent reception at the Herzog Tower.
A huge thank you to Andersen Legal, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Elias Neocleous & Co, and Herzog, Fox & Neeman for sponsoring the publication and partnering with us to celebrate the most influential in-house legal lawyers in Israel. A special thanks to Leeat Peleg, Nir Dash, Jonathan Morris, Elias Neocleous, and Theodore Pistiolis, for speaking at the event and sharing their insights on the future of legal teams, and to Herzog, Fox & Neeman for hosting us.
