Kennedys grows its Israel presence with hire of new partner

We are pleased to have boosted our Israel office with the appointment of Ilana Bar, one of the country’s most respected corporate insurance and institutional entities lawyers.

The Harvard graduate joins our Tel Aviv office as part of the firm’s global corporate and commercial team after more than 20 years as General Counsel of the Migdal Group, a leading Israeli insurance and long-term savings group with over NIS 300 billion assets under management, where she has been at the forefront of the merger and acquisition transactions of the Group and managed the legal division covering all its business lines.

Named by Chambers as one of Israel’s ‘GC Influencers’ of 2019, she was praised for her “very deep understanding of the insurance industry” as well as her expansive knowledge of legal matters impacting the sector.

Ilana’s expertise includes insurance and institutional entities, long-term savings, investment transactions, capital markets, class actions, legal risk management and financial regulation.

Describing this new opportunity, Ilana Bar, partner said: “My in-depth knowledge and experience will help Kennedys’ clients in their global transactions with an Israeli angle and will provide Israeli clients with international businesses access to the global network of Kennedys. The worldwide industry expertise of Kennedys will offer Israeli insurtech ventures access to their industry expertise and understanding of the legal issues and opportunities facing businesses today.”

Ilana, who initially studied law at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, graduated with a master’s degree from Harvard Law School and is admitted to Israel and the New York Bar.  

Prior to joining Migdal, she also spent three years at Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon, a former fixture of Wall Street.

Ben Aram, head of Kennedys’ Corporate and Commercial division and a member of the firm’s Global Board, said: “We are seeing an increase in our core insurance and financial industry clients’ commercial activity around the world, and Israel is of strategic interest, most notably in the insurtech sphere."

“Our global capabilities and footprint, combined with Ilana’s expertise, means our clients with an interest in the Israeli market will benefit from a unique one-stop proposition."

Zvika Zelichov also added: "Establishing a Corporate and Commercial presence in Kennedys in Israel with a special and unique expertise in insurance business and regulation such as Ilana's, will extend the scope of services that our current clients in Israel seek globally and will help support our international clients who are interested in the Israeli insurance and capital markets.”

This latest appointment represents our continued commitment to growth in the EMEA region following the opening of the Tel Aviv office last year.

The move which saw the acquisition of former associate firm Zelichov, Ben-Dan & Co also meant that we became the first global firm to open in Israel with local lawyers practicing Israeli law.