Avner Finkelshtein is a partner at Gornitzky & Co. who leads our firm’s Competition & Antitrust practice.
Avner’s main practice areas are Competition & Antitrust and White Collar Crime. In this capacity, he advises our domestic clients on a wide variety of competition law matters, such as mergers and acquisitions, criminal cartel investigations, joint ventures, abuse of dominance, distribution and pricing practices and other legislations governing foreign investments in Israel. In this respect, Avner has acted as counsel on several leading cases before the Israel Antitrust Authority.
Recent notable Competition & Antitrust experience includes:
- Representation of an Israeli bank before the Antitrust Tribunal, in an appeal on the Israeli Competition Authority’s decision to approve a merger between two other competing banks;
- Representation of a cellular company vis-à-vis the Israeli Competition Authority regarding its acquisition by one of the largest cellular companies in Israel;
- Representation of one of the largest food manufacturers in Israel before the District Court in two different class actions filed against it, on the grounds of charging excessive prices;
- Representation of an elevator company regarding a criminal investigation conducted against it (and against other companies in the field), by the Israel Competition Authority;
- Representation of a hotel company before the Antitrust Tribunal in an appeal on the Israeli Competition Authority’s decision to object to a merger between the hotel company and one of the largest hotel chains in Israel;
- Representation of a book distribution company regarding a criminal investigation conducted against it (and against other companies in the field) by the Israel Competition Authority;
- Representation of a cellular company before the Antitrust Tribunal in an appeal on the Israeli Competition Authority’s decision to object to a merger between the cellular company and another competing company;.
- Representation of a baby food manufacturer vis-à-vis the Israeli Competition Authority in hearing proceedings before declaring it as a Concentration Group and in proceedings to sign an agreed order;.
- Representation of a leading food company in a request for exemption for a restrictive arrangement vis-à-vis the Israeli Competition Authority;
- Representation of large food retailers vis-à-vis the Israeli Competition Authority in a request for exemption under the Food Law.
Prior to joining the firm and over the course of ten years, Avner held a variety of positions at the Israel Antitrust Authority:
- Deputy Director and legal counsel of the Investigations Department.
- Team leader in the Legal Department in the areas of banking, insurance and capital markets;
- Director of the Health Division of the Legal Department;
- Legal counsel to the Tenders Committee of the Israel Antitrust Authority;
- Head of the computer-related offenses division;
- Investigator and Senior Investigator of anti-competition related offenses in the Investigations Department;
In serving in these positions, Avner was responsible for many cartel investigations conducted by the IAA over the past decade, including the bread cartel investigation, and represented the IAA’s general director before the District Court of Jerusalem and the Competition Tribunal on several leading cases, including criminal cartels and merger cases.
Throughout his legal studies, Avner served as a member of a legal clinic, providing free legal counsel to underprivileged individuals.
In addition, Avner served as the Law School Representative in Bar-Ilan University’s Student Union and as a director of Issta Lines Ltd.
