When a damaging publication is about to appear, or has already begun to spread, acting quickly and precisely matters. The right approach to the publisher may prevent publication, secure a correction or removal, and limit the damage before it widens.
For more than three decades, Ilan Bombach & Co. has represented businesspeople, chief executives, corporate officers, public figures, corporations and private clients in defamation claims and media crises. The firm handles urgent matters both before and after publication, claims for damages, and the defence of defendants in sensitive and complex proceedings.
What we handle
- Action before publication: reviewing an article, investigation or anticipated publication, preparing a response and engaging with the media outlet or publisher. Where appropriate, the firm also files urgent applications to restrain publication.
- Defamation claims and damages: representation in claims concerning publications that caused personal, professional, public or commercial harm.
- Correction and removal of publications: requests for the removal of content, publication of a correction, clarification or apology, and steps to limit further dissemination across websites, social media and search engines.
- Defending defamation claims: assessing the statutory defences — truth of the publication, public interest and good faith — and forming a strategy to limit exposure and damage.
- Media crisis management: legal support where a publication also carries commercial, public or regulatory consequences, coordinated with the client and their communications advisers.
- Publications arising from business disputes: defamation accompanying battles for control, disputes between partners, disagreements between employers and employees, and commercial proceedings.
- Election campaigns and public contests: representation of candidates, parties and public figures facing defamatory publications and the spread of misleading information during election periods.
- Defamation, privacy and confidentiality: publications combining harm to reputation with disclosure of private information, use of confidential material or breach of confidentiality obligations.
- Interaction with other proceedings: forming a consistent legal position where the publication also relates to civil, criminal, administrative, disciplinary or regulatory proceedings.
Experience in Precedent-Setting Cases
The firm has acted in cases involving some of the highest damages awarded in Israel for defamation and has conducted precedent-setting proceedings that have helped shape the law in this field. Defamation has been a central part of the firm's practice for many years and an area in which it has achieved significant results.
The firm is led by Ilan Bombach, one of Israel's leading litigators, with over thirty years in practice and many hundreds of appearances before the Supreme Court. He represents the Prime Minister, government ministers, senior public servants, senior IDF officers, international corporations, chief executives of the largest companies in the Israeli economy, and Israeli and foreign business figures — precisely in situations where a single publication can change the course of events.
Defamation lies at the intersection of areas in which Ilan Bombach has worked throughout his career: law, the public sphere and the media. Familiarity with the Israeli public arena, the operation of public institutions and the dynamics of media organisations is an important part of the firm's approach to representation in this field.
A fast but measured response
Not every damaging publication calls for the same response. Sometimes an early approach can prevent publication or secure a correction; sometimes an overly forceful response may only amplify the publication. Deciding whether to respond, how to frame the approach and when to move to legal proceedings requires an assessment of the content, the likely reach, the available evidence and the defences that may be open to the publisher.
Work begins with a legal review of the publication and preservation of the necessary evidence. The course of action is then set — preparing a response, approaching the publisher, demanding a correction or removal, and conducting pre-action communications. Where those contacts do not produce a result, the firm moves to an application for interim relief or a full claim, according to the circumstances.
The firm's accumulated experience of working with journalists, editors, media organisations and communications advisers allows it to conduct proceedings with an understanding of how a publication is created, edited and disseminated, and of the interplay between the law, the media and the client's interests.
Personal involvement of the head of the firm
Ilan Bombach personally leads the substantive stages in these matters — from the first conversation and assessment of risk, through setting the strategy and conducting contacts with the publisher, to filing the claim and appearing in court.
In a field where timing, wording and judgement can affect both the reach of a publication and the damage it causes, the personal involvement of the head of the firm allows decisions to be made quickly while maintaining a consistent legal position throughout the crisis.
