Professional notice
Practice profile
A dynamic and commercial Israeli firm, AYR has a passion for technology and is extremely well-versed in the law around it. It runs a vibrant privacy and data security practice and fields experts who act in many different data contexts.
Its patrons include a majority of Israel’s facilities-based mobile telephony providers along with multi-channel TV operators, insurance companies, banks, airlines and others. It also acts for technology suppliers including Microsoft, which it helped as it built its first data centre in Israel.
In terms of recent developments, the ensemble has increased its headcount and experienced increased demand for its services as a result of heightened regulatory activity and an increase in privacy and security-related litigation as companies modernise their IT systems and cut costs by transitioning to the cloud.
Leading individuals
The fulcrum around which the practice turns is Eyal Roy Sage, a seasoned technology, telecommunications, privacy, IP, antitrust and cybersecurity lawyer. Fluent in Hebrew and English and a speaker of French, German and Dutch who is admitted in Israel, New York and England and Wales, he thinks and practices internationally.
Ariella Ablov is another engine of the firm’s success, particularly on the litigation front. She defends top companies in privacy class actions.
Work highlights
Microsoft is a major client of the firm, which it advises on the legal and regulatory framework affecting cloud services in industries such as healthcare, banking and insurance; on R&D operations; and on special projects such as one examining medical queries to provide early disease detection based on internet use.
The group also provides fulsome support to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation on contentious and non-contentious matters including the management and issuance of official tenders for contractual engagement with external suppliers, privacy policy, and intellectual property.
Recent regulatory investigations work includes representing Hertz Israel – Kesher Rent a Car in an inquiry into of a data breach notification resulting from an ethical hacker disclosure, and advising Harel Insurance Company on a pre-ruling request submitted to the Privacy Protection Authority regarding mass medical data portability.
On the litigation front, the team has defended Partner Communications Company in a class action which alleges its practices of data analysis of pseudonymised location and other data breaches privacy laws.
Client feedback
“AYR carries out high-profile privacy projects demonstrating exceptional professionalism and dedication. Its lawyers are up to date on legal developments and think outside the box to deliver practical solutions.”
In Israel’s competitive legal market, AYR – Amar Reiter Jeanne Shochatovitch & Co – is not just another firm.
AYR was formed with the clear objective of developing big firm legal services without a big firm attitude. AYR’s founding principles have served the firm well, and it remains committed to them as it continued to grow to become a top-20 firm with the fastest organic growth rate.
The firm is ranked as a leading law firm in all major local and international directories, including Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, IFLR1000, Dun’s 100 and BDi Code. Several firm lawyers are dual-qualified in Israel and the US or England and Wales, enabling the firm to conduct business in English and across legal systems with ease and proficiency.
Clients include international and domestic companies in technology, telecommunications, real-estate, retail, media, transportation, high-tech and venture capital, finance and insurance, many of which are leaders of their respective fields.
Our clients are entrepreneurial and sophisticated, and we build our practice with excellence, drive, creativity, resourcefulness, flexibility, diversity and informality to best serve their needs, match their energy, and keep them as clients over the long term. We achieve this by being that rare thing: lawyers who enjoy their work.
Adv. Eyal Roy Sage, a co-founder of the firm, leads the practice.
Eyal advises industry-leading clients in the technology, telecommunications and media industries. His practice concentrates in privacy and data protection, intellectual property and antitrust. Eyal is very experienced in regulatory matters, and speaks and writes regularly on antitrust, privacy and data protection, encryption and trade controls, and intellectual property.
Eyal is a Co-chair of the Tel Aviv Chapter of the IAPP – International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Eyal has won recognition for his achievements in his field of practice by Israeli and International ranking guides, including Chambers and Partners and The LEGAL500 – who ranked him as a Leading Individual in the field of Telecoms and Media.
He is licensed to practice in Israel (admitted 1994), New York (admitted 2002) and England and Wales (admitted 2005 – non-practicing solicitor).
Graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B., 1991) and of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LL.M., 1992).
Fluent in Hebrew and English, and also speaks French, German and Dutch.
AYR’s Law & Tech practice is one of Israel’s strongest and most active privacy and data security teams. As enthusiastic users of technology themselves, the team understands the requirements and possibilities, but also the risks and challenges. The team advises both suppliers and users of technology, giving the practice a wide perspective of the market, as follows:
- IT and data analysis operations of large companies with troves of data and who are heavy users of technology and of data, including facilities-based mobile telephony providers; multi-channel TV operators; insurers; banks; credit card issuers; state-run provident funds; retail chains; public transportations companies; and public and private broadcasters.
- Major suppliers of the technology and processing services, including international cloud service providers; outsourced payroll call-center providers; IT service providers; and importers of connected controllers used in key infrastructure projects.
- AYR’s team is called upon to advise on cutting-edge matters such the effects of monitoring, big data and artificial intelligence in the telecoms, media, insurance, financial, transportation and other industries; liability arising out of state-sponsored cyberattacks; and the compatibility of Israeli and EU privacy laws as it affects cross-border cloud computing.
- Other services include agreements for the development, licensing and purchasing of hardware and software; protection of intellectual property; development of hardware; liability for technological faults; use of cloud computing services; regulation of data centers; telecoms regulations and IP telephony and TV; advising start-ups and incubators; compliance with statutes and technological standards; licensing of encryption and cyber technology measures; breach notifications; electronic signatures and on-line documents; investment agreements in privacy and data security start-ups; competition law aspects of joint ventures and technologies with high market shares; marketing agreements for technology systems; electronic trading and electronic distribution; reverse engineering; and use and development of open source code.
- AYR’s Law & Technology team handles all regulatory investigations and inquiries itself; if matters reach the courts, the team works closely with the firm’s litigators; this has become more common as the volume of privacy and security-related class actions increase. The team also works with the firm’s white-collar team when handling criminal lawful intercept orders, as well as the firm’s commercial team when handling due diligence, M&As and data processing agreements.
- The team routinely holds popular seminars and webinars on privacy and data security; we were the first Israeli law firm to arrange a webinar on the many effects of the Schrems II decision on Israel, including, due to an often over-looked peculiarity of Israeli law, on exports of data from Israel to the U.S., even though Israel is not part of the EEA.
Other AYR Practice Areas:
Litigation and Dispute Resolution;
Class Actions;
Real Estate;
Commercial and Corporate Law;
Project and Corporate Financing;
Hi-Tech, Technological Incubators, Accelerators and Venture Capital;
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A);
Capital Market and Securities
Insolvency and Corporate Recovery;
Labor Law;
Urban Renewal;
Planning and Construction
Municipal Taxation
White-Collar Crime.
Sports Law