Israeli Archives

Apr 22, 2020

You May Have Insurance Coverage for COVID-19 Related Losses

The actual policy terms are what matter This is another of our series of articles where we present a short action item related to COVID-19 topics. Many companies have insurance coverage beyond the standard commercial liability, automobile, errors & omissions, and directors and officers coverage. Examples of this additional coverage are Business Interruption insurance, environmental insurance and for some companies engaged in the business of national and international conferences, event cancellation insurance. Each of these could potentially be a source of insurance coverage in the COVID-19 scenario. In this short “FYI” article, we will focus on Business Interruption and to… Read more

Mar 31, 2020

For Israeli Companies Who Have Office Leases in the United States Strategies for Negotiating Rent Relief During the COVID-19 Emergency And Provisions Applicable To Most Israeli Companies with U.S. Employees, Including Mandatory Notice Provisions

Many Israeli companies have offices in the United States, most of which are leased. While nearly every business is seeking ways to cut expenses, the reality is that we are all interconnected. One company’s expense reduction is another company’s reduction in income, and thus stress on meeting their own financial obligations. Your commercial office lease is a tempting place to reduce expense. Many thanks to my New York colleagues Danielle Comanducci and Stephen O’Connell for the very practical advice you will see here. The concepts expressed would be applicable anywhere in the United States. Their article is written more from… Read more

Mar 27, 2020

Action Item: Pay Attention to the Notice Provisions of Your Contracts in the COVID-19 World

FYI – לידיעתך For most of us, our email is flooded with various articles on how to deal with COVID-19 in the business and legal environments. Because many of us are scrambling to balance being professionals, parents, caregivers, cooks and housekeepers simultaneously, I will keep my message short and actionable. What I have not heard much discussion about is the need to pay attention to the notice provisions in contracts; provisions that are generally viewed as “boilerplate” and not worthy of much focus. While one can hope the opposing party does the “Right” thing in these times, there will be… Read more

Aug 30, 2019

FYI – לידיעתך

With August now concluded, and with it the unofficial end to the summer vacation season, we thought it would be useful to review two areas of law that we frequently see being relevant to our Israeli clients who have operations in the United States. The first is an employment law topic that is a common source of error, especially for overseas companies with U.S. operations. The second topic is when a contract’s choice of law will be respected by the Courts. When Can Someone Be Classified an Independent Contractor? On a fairly routine basis, our clients from Israel approach us about bringing… Read more

Jun 6, 2019

So Who Owns the Emails?

For the last number of years, when I am retained to provide sell-side representation in an M&A transaction, one of the very first things I do is insist that my client’s “deal team” personnel with whom I will be working establish private email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) for the transaction. I tell them we should cease communicating with each other on their company email accounts through the company’s email servers. Almost always, I get a very puzzled response until I provide this explanation: “We are going to be having very sensitive communication about this transaction concerning the company and its… Read more

Sep 20, 2018

Specifying That a Contract Is Governed by New York Law May Not Necessarily Be All You Think It Is

International Transactions and New York Law

In the past, our FYI / לידיעתך articles focused on a single topic. For this edition, we share two topics that may be or become relevant in your work. Specifying that a contract is governed by New York Law may not necessarily be all you think it is. A “thank you” goes to my partners, John McCarthy and Marc Latman, for bringing this topic up in another SGR publication. It is not uncommon when Israeli companies are negotiating with U.S. companies, that the U.S. company is not comfortable having the contract governed by Israeli law. The Israeli company also does… Read more

Apr 5, 2018

Casual Use of “Efforts” Language in Contracts Increases Litigation Risk

Take the Time to Negotiate What Is Expected When parties negotiate ongoing obligations in a contract, the parties typically make reference to a particular standard of effort. A number of different terms or phrases are used, such as “best efforts,” “reasonable efforts,” “commercially reasonable efforts,” “commercially reasonable best efforts,” and “diligent efforts.” But what exactly do these phrases mean, and how are they different from each other? In the push to get contracts negotiated and signed, the use of these terms, without properly defining them, is common. Also common in reviewing legacy contracts is that the same contract can use… Read more

Dec 21, 2017

Changes to Certain Federal and State Laws Relevant for Israeli Companies with U.S. Operations

A number of you in Israel have asked about the impact of the new U.S. tax law regime. At the time, the reconciliation process between the House and Senate versions was still underway, so it was too soon to know for sure. Now we know. There will be many updates on the Web from various sources, but my colleagues in our Employment Benefits Group have provided one which focuses on this area and will be relevant for those of who have (or who have clients who have) such arrangements in the United States. See here. In addition, a number of… Read more

Nov 7, 2017

Are the Deferred Compensation and Other Equity Award Arrangements for My U.S. Affiliates Going to Fundamentally Change?

As many of you in Israel may have heard, a major change to the U.S. Tax Code has been proposed and is being negotiated (perhaps fought over) by various constituent groups, and their lobbyists. Many companies in Israel have U.S. operations and thus U.S. deferred compensation arrangements. These could be fundamentally changed if the Administration’s proposal is adopted without modification. Please see this link here from my colleagues for a short explanation. Stay tuned…..

Sep 5, 2017

Beware of Post-Closing Actions Having a Retro-Active Pre-Closing Impact

We are now in September, and with the turn of the Gregorian calendar, comes the unofficial end of summer for both the United States and Israel. Most have taken their summer holidays, the children are back in school, and the company transaction environment gains new momentum for the balance of the calendar year. It is a good time to reflect. When selling the equity of a company, Sellers expect Buyers to require a representation and warranty that (1) all taxes of the company have been paid or reserved on the target’s balance sheet and (2) all tax returns previously filed… Read more