Avi Porten

Avi Porten is a managing partner and head (Co-) of  our planning and zoning department at our Tel Aviv office.

Avi is considered one of the key figures in the fields of real estate and planning and construction in Israel. He advises companies on a number of complex issues throughout the various stages of a project, including planning assistance, utilization of building rights and changes of use, and representation before planning and construction committees, appeal committees and the Administrative Court, the Supreme Court, and other government ministries and statutory bodies.

Avi supports a wide range of clients, including entrepreneurs, landowners, government and public companies, local and international hotel chains, local planning committees and local authorities, educational and cultural institutions, health institutions and dozens of private companies engaged in various projects in housing, employment and energy.

Prior to joining the firm, he managed the Planning and Zoning Department at the Ministry of Interior Legal Bureau and served for years as a legal advisor to the National Planning and Building Council, District Planning and Building Committees and a variety of other senior positions in institutions and the State Commission of Inquiry chaired by Justice Zilber.

In 2023, Avi was ranked ‘Hall of Fame’ in the Legal 500 international ranking guide based on his professional work and his clients’ reviews.

Avi is consistently ranked in the elite groups in international ranking guides and is commended by colleagues and clients for his professional and thorough work. He lectures at universities, colleges and many professional forums.

• Providing strategic advice for the real estate development of Clalit Health Fund, which operates 14 hospitals throughout the country and owns more than one and a half million square meters of clinics.
• Accompanying sales procedures for more than 1,000 apartments in various projects throughout the country – e.g. Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Mevaseret Zion, Lod and Eilat.
• Representation in litigation with the local authorities and committees regarding development fees, improvement levies and expropriation compensation, amounting to hundreds of millions of NIS.
• Representing leading customers and entrepreneurs in the economy in promoting and approving complex and precedent-setting plans covering a very large area and mixing different uses (residential, commercial, hotel, employment, energy, industrial, etc.) throughout the country .
• Accompanying the plan for the establishment of a modern business district at the entrance to the city of Jerusalem. He represented prominent developers, including the International Convention Center, the Bellilios family, Canada Israel and Mid Town, and the Golobenzitz family.
• Representation of a reality fund in an appeal before the local committee of the Herzliya municipality. The municipality’s demands were rejected, together with the cancellation of an improvement levy of NIS 1,700,000.
• Representation of the ISA Group in the flagship project “Ir Olam” in Jerusalem – a huge multi-purpose project, a part of which a new district will be established connecting three  old neighborhoods in the city: Beit Hakerem, Givat Shaul and Kiryat Moshe.
• Representation of public bodies such as the Hebrew University, the Modiin Local Committee, the International Convention Center, the Jerusalem Theater, Sha’are Zedek, Mifal Hapayis, and Clalit Health Fund .