February Edition 2021

35 Rachel Prishkolnik With climate change and renewable energy increasingly front and center of Government policies, we spoke t o Rachel Prishkolnik, V P General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, G&Aat SolarEdge Technologies, a global leader in smart energy technology, to find out more about what companies, such as SolarEdge, need from their external legal counsel. In 2006, SolarEdge revolutionized the solar industry by inventing a better way to collect and manage energy in PV systems. It developed the DC optimized inverter solution that changed the way power is harvested and managed in photovoltaic (PV) systems. Today, SolarEdge has been listed on NASDAQ since 2015. What drew you to work in-house? Rachel: Ever since I began working as a lawyer, I’ve been drawn to the business aspects of the contracts I worked on. Even as a younger lawyer in private practice, I enjoyed asking clients questions to fully understand the context of the contracts and really get involved in negotiations. The move to in-house seemed very natural for me and I made the transition after about six years of practice in law firms. Being in-house, and a part of the management team, means that I can balance risk management first- hand with business opportunities, which brings a more holistic and practical approach to our work. What initially drew you to the practice of law? Rachel: It felt like the right next step after a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from a liberal arts college in the U.S. I didn’t yet knowwhich practice area interested me and spent much of my free time in college volunteering for not-for-profits, assuming then that I would end up in that sector. As it happened, I began working at a law firm in Tel Aviv as a student and was exposed to the world of hi-tech and the U.S. capital markets and that ended up shaping my career. What is the biggest thrill for you as GC, and what are the biggest challenges? Rachel: One of the thrills for me was our IPO and working on M&As is also a fun challenge. My main joy has been working on developing our business and in the case of M&A, bringing in new employees and businesses to our SolarEdge family. This often involves transatlantic and cross-cultural communication and working very closely with our other executives.