Am Law 200 firm Honigman has launched an investment funds practice in Israel after hiring a quartet of lawyers from Big Law firms for its Israeli subsidiary, HLI. 

Joshua Gottesman has joined HLI as a partner having been an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and will found the investment funds practice alongside existing partner Sam Katz. Funds associate Mayer Stein has joined him for the move from Simpson Thacher. 

Meantime associate Oron Eli, who focuses on private equity investments and M&A, has joined from Paul Weiss and insurance disputes specialist Amit Roitman has moved over from Pillsbury Winthrop. All four joiners will relocate to Israel from the US. 

“HLI has enabled us to attract attorneys who find in it a unique opportunity to follow their personal interest in relocating to Israel,” said Joshua Opperer, a partner in Honigman’s private equity group and director of HLI. He added the venture was a “valuable tool in our efforts to attract and retain the best lawyers”.

The incoming group will take HLI’s lawyer headcount to nine, Honigman said, including four partners. 

Honigman launched in Israel in 2022 to take advantage of demand for counsel on Israel-US business dealings, hiring five US-qualified lawyers from firms including Goodwin Procter, Davis Polk and Pillsbury for the venture. Four of the five founding team members, including Katz, are still with the firm, though former tax counsel David Snyder exited in 2023 for an in-house role in New York at Aurora Health Network. 

The new investment funds practice will add to the office’s existing capabilities across M&A, finance, securities, venture capital and general corporate matters.

Katz, who focuses on corporate finance and fund formation as well as M&A, has worked with clients including manufacturing company Kornit Digital and CyberArk Software on acquisitions and primary and secondary offerings. He has also guided a number of Israel-headquartered businesses on their US IPOs, including Kornit, MediWound and Gazit-Globe. 

Honigman brought in revenue of just under $313m in 2023, placing it 123rd on the Am Law 200 ranking published by the American Lawyer. Meantime, profit per equity partner at the 320-lawyer firm stood at just over $1.4m. Alongside Israel, the firm has eight offices in the US, including six in its home state of Michigan. 

A number of Big Law firms including Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin, DLA Piper, Davis Polk and Pillsbury operate dedicated Israel practices or desks. Greenberg Traurig has had an office in Tel Aviv for more than 20 years and CMS opened there in late 2021.