The head of Greenberg’s global corporate & securities practice and co-chair of the Israel practice, Gary Epstein, will be the first managing shareholder at the Tel Aviv office.
A new law office for Greenberg Traurig LLP is opening in Israel early in the year 2012. This will mark the first international law firm to operate in the country when it comes to offering services for business issues and commercial companies. The firm will not be focused on the practice of Israel law. Instead, it will use the office in Tel Aviv to work with Israeli clients who operate in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, China, Holland and Italy, according to Law360.
“We hope to grow as American and U.K. attorneys with Israeli clients learn about the opportunity we offer. To the best of our knowledge, we expect this office to be the first-ever international law firm practicing exclusively non-Israeli law through a full-time, full-service office in Israel that is not focused primarily on business development,” Epstein said.
The firm began working with clients in Israel close to ten years ago according to Rosenbaum. The firm began helping companies that suffered after the fall website era and during the same time that security problems were rampant in the Middle East.
Three senior Greenberg lawyers and five other employees will be working in the Tel Aviv office to start. This is according to CEO Richard Rosenbaum, who spoke with Law360. The law firm has experience working with companies in Israel, such as businesses in the industries of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, technology, clean energy and manufacturing. The firm has represented companies in those industries for financing problems, mergers, acquisitions, intellectual property and employment problems.
The law firm’s co-chair at the Israel practice, Bob Grossman, said that the firm is committed to the business community of Israel.
“Slowly over those years, it … turned into a business and we developed a number of large clients, a number of smaller clients, and developed a very active practice that has taken several of our people over there from time to time each year. We’re not the only firm that’s interested in Israel,” he said.
The office in Tel Aviv will be the 34th office opened by Greenburg. A Mexico City office opened earlier in 2011.
Because of an already established client base, there was little to no risk for the firm to expand into Tel Aviv with an office. Rosenbaum said that because of the firm’s dedication to the practice operating in Israel over the past decade, it made sense to make the move to Tel Aviv.
“We are proud of what we have achieved for our clients and friends. I am especially proud of our work in life sciences and intellectual property, on which I have focused specific attention in recent years,” he said.
Information researched from a press release issued by the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, Law.com, and the Miami Herald.