Transactions in the government and defence industries are unique in more than one way: they are often complex, they usually deal with high-value products, they tend to be vital to the State and they are highly regulated. Our expertise ranges from advising on manufacturing, distribution, agency and consultancy agreements to representation of financial institutions regarding their involvement in government and/or defence-related transactions.

Our multidisciplinary team, drawn from the firm’s internationally recognised commercial, regulatory, telecommunications, IP and tax lawyers, offers clients experience, depth of resource and specialist expertise on the full spectrum of commercial and regulatory aspects relating to the development, marketing, sale and export of defence-related products, technology and services, as well as other types of government-related transactions, including:

• Acting for a wide range of international and domestic manufacturers and providers of defence equipment and technology, maritime, aerospace and land security systems.
• Structuring and negotiating complex joint venture and technology transfer agreements in the aeronautic, maritime and military sectors relating to co-development, sale, lease-back and export of defence and security products.
• Representing bidders and other participants in government procurement and sale tenders as well as in transactions under government assistance programs.
• Representing state-owned entities in tender process, including: drafting tenders, advising tender committees and providing procedural and commercial support throughout the process.
• Advising government-owned companies, such as the Israel Electric Corporation and Haifa and Ashdod Ports, on various transactions, including M&A transactions relating to privatisation and other reforms in the Israeli economy.
• Advising on the terms of government and military procurement contracts, including the impact of the rules regarding mandatory local industrial co-operation under the Mandatory Tenders Regulations (Mandatory Industrial Cooperation) on the purchase of military equipment and services from non-Israeli defence contractors.
• Advising on regulatory matters, including with respect to export control permits and licences, as well as with respect to limitations on trade with states classified as enemies under Israeli law, anti-money laundering laws and anti-bribery laws.
• Negotiating the terms of any permits required by the Defence Exports Control Agency of the Ministry of Defence in connection with the export of defence equipment, the transfer of defence know-how and the provision of defence services, including the export of encryption technology and dual use technology that would otherwise be unlawful under Israel’s implementation of the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.
• Advising on issues relating to IP, transfer and protection of technologies and licensing of defence know-how.
• Representing clients in complex disputes and litigation cases relating to the defence industry, including patent enforcement and oppositions and revocation proceedings, service inventions and trade secret disputes.