Data reveals: The law firms that earned millions from consulting for government companies
The Government Companies Authority publishes data on the fees of external legal advisors. The report reveals that the government bodies with the highest expenses are the Israel Electric Corporation, NTA, and Mekorot, highlighting a high degree of market concentration.
Three leading law firms charged fees of 25 to 27 million shekels each for providing consulting to government companies from 2023 to 2025. Topping the list is the firm Arnon, Tadmor-Levy, which received about 27.2 million shekels — a sum representing 6.66% of the total fees paid by all government companies in those years. In second place is the firm Goldfarb Gross Seligman with 27.07 million shekels (6.61%), followed by the firm Herzog Fox Neeman, which charged 25.74 million shekels (6.29%).
These data emerge from a report prepared by the Government Companies Authority and distributed as part of the move to increase transparency and proper administration.
409 million shekels and 10 firms that dominate the market
The report shows that in 2023-2025, government companies paid a total of about 409.4 million shekels for external legal consulting, while some of them — mainly the security ones — paid foreign consultants in foreign currency. The distribution of expenses by year shows that in 2023, the companies spent about 131 million shekels, in 2024 the amount dropped to about 128 million shekels, and in 2025 a jump of about 15.5% was recorded to a level of about 148 million shekels.
The published data raise questions regarding the degree of concentration in the market. The three leading firms rake in about 19.6% of the total government expenditure, the five leading firms hold 27.8% of the market, while the top ten firms — out of 265 firms that provided services — rake in 44.15% of the total fees.
Most of the expenses are concentrated in infrastructure, energy, and transport companies. Topping the list is the Israel Electric Corporation, which spent about 62 million shekels on external legal consulting (15.1% of the total expenses of government companies in the field). NTA is located in second place with about 51 million shekels (12.5%), followed by Mekorot and Amidar with about 37 million shekels each, Netivei Israel with about 31.7 million shekels, and Netivei Ayalon with about 29 million shekels. These companies alone are responsible for about 60.5% of the fee expenses.
From collection files to infrastructure tenders
The seven firms that complete the top ten in the amount of fees paid to them for consulting are S. Friedman, Abramzon & Co. in fourth place with about 17 million shekels, Simon-Wexler, Shapirer, Maoz with about 16.7 million shekels, and the firm Chen, Fischer, Gabay, which received about 15.7 million shekels from the Israel Electric Corporation alone. Further down the ranking are D. Kahlon & Co. with about 14.4 million shekels, Shibolet & Co. with about 13 million shekels, and the firm Belter, Gut, Aloni & Co. with about 11.8 million shekels. Closing the top ten is the law firm Moshe Nissim-Rinkov-Sandrovich with a fee of about 11.8 million shekels.
The amount paid to the firm Chen, Fischer, Gabay also represents the most expensive single engagement in the report, for debt collection at the Israel Electric Corporation. Out of a total of about 15.7 million shekels for three years, 9.3 million shekels were paid in 2025 alone, after the firm collected 2.8 million shekels in 2024 and 3.6 million shekels in 2023.
The approving committee that was frozen for 4 years
In Israel, there are currently 68 government companies operating. According to the law, the appointment of an external consultant requires prior approval of the Government Companies Authority and is carried out in accordance with the Mandatory Tenders Law. However, the committee for the appointment of legal advisors and their salaries — which is supposed to approve these engagements and prevent concentration — did not convene for four years, between 2020 and 2024, due to a lack of representatives.
With its return to activity in 2024, the committee approved retroactively the engagements that the companies carried out during the years of the freeze. Today it is headed by Dr. Raphael Biton. Publishing the data is a layer in the agenda led by the director of the Government Companies Authority, Roi Kahlon, to increase transparency and competition in the market.
