Doron Afik and Shlomi Turgeman are senior partners at AfikTurgeman, Advocates and Notaries.
How many attorneys operate at your firm?
"The firm has three partners: Doron Afik, Shlomi Turgeman and Rena Lapidot and a legal team of 12."
What are your key practice areas?
"The firm deals with a wide array of legal fields and aims at providing its business clients with a one-stop legal shop. The commercial section of our firm centres on corporate law (full service to companies), antitrust, municipal law, banking, capital markets, derivatives transactions, investments, mergers and acquisitions, securities, real property, high-tech, labour law, tenders and tax law.
"In the litigation field, the firm centres on complex commercial claims, shareholders disputes, freeze of proceedings, rehabilitation of corporations, banking claims, tenders related claims, labour disputes (representing employers and employees), defamation, international disputes etc. The firm also operates a debt collection department, including by receiverships, bankruptcies and liquidations.
"In the administrative and municipal field, the firm focuses on tenders, B.O.T projects, legal and management advise to municipalities, building permits, representation vis-à-vis government authorities, public sector labour law, municipal bonds, business licenses (including as prosecutor), electoral law and day-to-day legal escort of senior civil servants."
Please describe a typical client
"Most of our clients are high-net individuals, medium- to-large corporations, both local and international and Israeli municipalities."
How has the recession affected demand for your services?
"In fact, during the recession our firm's practice grew considerably as more and more demand appeared for private label legal architecture from boutique firms rather than highly priced big-firms mediocre service."
How do you compete with specialist/boutique firms when it comes to advising on niche areas?
"We provide specialist and boutique work together with the wide range legal capabilities of a one-stop- shop legal firm."
How have you adapted the services of your firm to meet the needs of your existing clients and to attract new clients during the downturn?
"We know how to swiftly tailor make transaction and legal solutions. Recession times call for more sophisticated structures and we find this challenging."
Many full service firms have had to make major adjustments to survive the downturn, now as economies slowly recover, what are your predictions for the future of full service law firms?
"Not only did we not suffer from the recession, but in fact grew considerably during such period. We believe that good quality service is priceless and that we will continue our growth."