Profile

Chaim is the head of the medical malpractice and personal injury claims division in Kennedys Israel. He is highly involved in a great amount of medical malpractice claims, which the firm handles, representing hospitals, sick funds, private medical institutions, doctors and paramedical. Chaim qualified in 1974 and is fluent in Hebrew, English and Yiddish.

He is also involved in broad aspects of insurance legal fields such as personal injury, professional liability, employers’ liability, commercial and civil litigation.

Chaim lectured at both the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Dentistry at Tel Aviv University, the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Dentistry at Jerusalem University (Hadassah). Chaim also serves as a guest speaker in various legal conventions of the Israeli Bar Association as well as in of conferences of medical organisations.

He serves as an arbitrator and a certified mediator in business, insurance, and medico-legal disputes.

Chaim is the Former Deputy Chairman of Israel Bar Association and the former Chairman of the President’s Council of the World Association for Medical Law.

Being one of the senior attorneys in Israel in the medical malpractice and personal injury field, Chaim was involved in some of the main Supreme Court precedents in this legal arena including, inter-alia:

  • CA 145/80 Vaknin v The Beit-Shemesh Local Council, a comprehensive judgment establishing the terms of conceptual liability and concrete liability, as well as analysing and setting up various rules regarding negligence, breach of statutory duty and other issues in the Israeli Tort Ordinance.
  • PCA 305/80 Ratzkovsky v Shilo, the Supreme Court dealt with the rules when an insurance company wishes to refer a claimant to be examined by a medical expert on its behalf.
  • CA 73/86 Levi Sternberg v The Municipality of Bnei-Brak, the Supreme Court dealt with the scope of liability of a municipality to take care and avoid accidents due to overflow of the sewage system, and also dealt with contributing negligence of the claimant under given circumstances.
  • PCA 7731/04 The State of Israel – Ministry of Health v The estate of the late Avital Halperin and others, the Supreme Court permitted to submit as part of the evidence in a medical malpractice claim, a report issued by an examination commission which was appointed in accordance with the stipulations of the Doctors' Ordinance. The Supreme Court also decided that it is allowed to summon one of the State commission members as a witness in a claim.
  • CA 1326/07 Lior Hamer v Prof. Ami Amit and others, judgment given by seven Supreme Court judges, abolishing the right of claim for ‘wrongful life’.
  • CA 7313/09 Moti Levi v Leumit Sick Fund and Hadassah Hospital, judgment given by the Supreme Court establishing rules regarding limitation of claims and referring to the relations between the Torts Ordinance and the statutes of limitation.

Qualifications/education

  • Qualified in 1974 and admitted to the Israeli Bar in 1975
  • B from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, 1974
Chaim Zelichov heads the medical malpractice practice.

Market recognition

  • Recommended lawyer for 'Dispute resolution: local litigation and arbitration (Israel)'
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2024
  • Leading Individual and recommended lawyer for 'Insurance (Israel)'
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2024
  • Leading Individual for 'Insurance (Israel)'
    "Chaim Zelichov heads the medical malpractice practice"
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2023
  • Recommended Lawyer for 'Insurance (Israel)'
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2023
  • Recommended Lawyer for 'Dispute Resolution (Israel)'
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2023
  • Leading Individual for 'Insurance (Israel)'
    "Chaim Zelichov is particularly noted for his experience in medical malpractice claims."
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2022
  • Recommended Lawyer for 'Dispute Resolution (Israel)'
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2022
  • Leading Individual for 'Insurance (Israel)'
    "Chaim Zelichov has standout experience in medical malpractice suits."
    "I can only speak knowledgeably of Chaim and Zvika Zelichov, with whom I think I have an excellent relationship that exceeds our professional respect for one another and extends to great friendship."
    The Legal 500 EMEA 2021

Work highlights

  • Representation of a governing authority and its insurers in a mass claim that was submitted by more than 400 claimant and their estates, following a collapsed floor.
  • Representation of an Israeli law firm in four professional negligence claims in the total amount of approximately $57,000,000 that were submitted against it following financial damages to investors that alleged that they relied upon the representation of the law firm as a precondition to their investments.
  • Representing an Israeli public authority for over 15 years in claims for personal injury damages submitted against the commission by its employees.
  • Advising London, German, and Swiss insurers on a number of claims in Israel, including on the scope of coverage, relating to various issues such as medical malpractice, personal injury and professional liability.
  • Appeared over 100 times in the Supreme Court of the State of Israel, in both of its capacities as the highest appellant division and as the High Court of Justice in insurance, torts civil and commercial related matters.