Petitions to the High Court of Justice and to the Administrative Affairs Courts concern decisions at the heart of government activity — legislation, cabinet decisions, public appointments, tenders, regulation and the exercise of powers by state authorities. Such proceedings demand not only command of constitutional and administrative law, but a deep understanding of how decisions are made and how the institutions of government actually operate.
Ilan Bombach & Co. represents the Prime Minister, government ministers, the State Comptroller, public figures across the political spectrum, local authorities, public bodies and international corporations in complex constitutional, administrative and regulatory petitions and proceedings.
Principal areas of practice
- Constitutional petitions: fundamental rights, judicial review of legislation, Basic Laws and the boundaries of judicial authority.
- Administrative petitions against state authorities: excess of authority, unreasonableness, discrimination and infringement of procedural rights in decisions of government ministries and regulators.
- Public tenders, regulation and infrastructure: the firm has particular expertise in complex tender disputes, and in petitions concerning infrastructure, planning, public regulation and proceedings of significant economic scale.
- Election law: candidate eligibility, party law and proceedings concerning the integrity of the electoral process.
- Licensing, accreditation and disciplinary law in regulated professions: representation before accreditation committees, appeals committees and professional bodies, including where an administrative determination bears on freedom of occupation, professional reputation and the ability to continue practising.
- Local authorities and local government: representation of mayors on questions of eligibility, elections, appointments, local regulation and review proceedings.
- Review committees, commissions of inquiry and public crisis management: representation of senior political and military figures in sensitive proceedings where law, public administration and the public arena intersect. Alongside his constitutional practice, Ilan Bombach's service as a reserve officer with the IDF Military Defense has given him close familiarity with enforcement, investigation and prosecution systems, including from different perspectives within the criminal process.
Experience at the core of constitutional and administrative law
The firm is led by Ilan Bombach, one of Israel's leading litigators, with more than 30 years of experience and many hundreds of appearances before the Supreme Court. He has represented the Government of Israel, Knesset committees, ministers, public figures and governmental bodies in major constitutional and administrative proceedings.
Among other matters, he has represented the Government of Israel in major constitutional proceedings, including the petitions challenging the amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary concerning the reasonableness doctrine. Those petitions were heard by a full panel of all fifteen justices then serving on the Supreme Court. That representation forms part of a long line of proceedings whose public significance extends well beyond the immediate parties.
Practical familiarity with the public system
Alongside his practice, Ilan Bombach has held a series of public offices. He has served as Deputy Chair of the Central Elections Committee, Chair of the Tel Aviv and Central District of the Israel Bar Association, Chair of the District Ethics Committee, a member of the advisory committee for judicial appointments, and acting chair of the council of the National Road Safety Authority.
These roles gave him direct familiarity with how decisions are made within public bodies, with the institutional considerations that guide them, and with the way administrative decisions are reached and implemented. That experience allows the firm to read the legal and institutional map in real time, and to shape a course of action suited both to the legal proceeding and to its public consequences.
Personal involvement in sensitive matters of public consequence
In administrative proceedings, much of the case may be shaped before a petition is ever filed. The early approach to the authority, the arguments advanced at a hearing, the exhaustion of remedies and the factual record placed before the decision-maker may determine the boundaries of the argument later conducted in court.
Ilan Bombach personally leads sensitive and precedent-setting matters, from formulating the strategy and approaching the relevant authority, through the exhaustion of administrative remedies and engagement with public bodies, to filing the petition and appearing before the High Court of Justice and the Administrative Affairs Courts.
