She Took the Money, the Claim Was Never Filed: The Lea Melech Case

Six disciplinary verdicts

The Central District Disciplinary Court of the Israel Bar Association convicted attorney Lea Melech six times between February 2024 and June 2026.

She did not appear at any of the first five proceedings. Not at the hearings, not at the sentencing stage, and not in writing. All the offences for which she was convicted in them were committed between 2019 and 2021.

In the October 2025 verdict the court noted that, as far as it knew, she had left the country in early 2022 and had not returned, and that this raised a doubt as to the purpose of imposing further punishment. One of the three judges held that the sentence should be ten years of suspension because of the repeated conduct. The majority set two.

The sixth verdict was given on 16 June 2026, in case 040/2022, and is known from the list of suspended lawyers published by the Israel Bar Association, as checked on 21 October 2026. According to the Bar's notice, the Central District disciplinary court imposed on her in this case a further removal from the Bar Association, cumulative to any other suspension imposed on her. The text of the verdict was not obtained, so it is not known what the case concerned or whether she appeared.

What exactly was collected and what was not done

The most detailed case published is 52/22. The conviction was entered on 24 January 2024, again in her absence, on the basis of witness affidavits that were not rebutted. Five counts, five clients:

• 3,510 shekels in cheques for sending a warning letter to a neighbour. The letter was never sent.
• 7,000 shekels by bank transfer for representation at a pre-dismissal hearing. The hearing was postponed three times and then missed, and the fee was not returned.
• 9,360 shekels in eight cheques for a breach of contract claim. The defence was filed late.
• 13,000 shekels for a labour law claim. The claim was never filed.
• 14,050 shekels in a parental alienation matter. The work was not completed and the fee was not returned.

The offences found: breach of the duty of loyalty and devotion to the client under rule 2 of the professional ethics rules and section 54 of the Bar Association Law, neglecting and discontinuing the handling of a matter without notifying the client under rule 13 and section 61(2), harming the dignity of the profession under section 53, and conduct unbecoming under sections 61(1) and 61(3).

The court described the pattern: gaining the client’s trust, collecting a fee, undertaking to handle the matter devotedly, and then evading contact and breaching every undertaking.

The result, according to the court, is financial damage and a legal disadvantage against the opposing party. That disadvantage is the heart of it. A client who believes his claim is running does not file it through another lawyer. By the time he learns the truth, the limitation period may already have expired.

The 2022 television investigation

In July 2022 the programme “The Con Artists” on the main evening news of Channel 12 broadcast an investigation by reporter Adva Dadon into attorney Lea Melech and her partner, attorney Guy Gur. According to the investigation, close to 100 accounts reached the programme.

Those who spoke on camera were elderly people, people with disabilities, discharged soldiers and patients. One of them paid 34,000 shekels and no case was ever opened for him in court. A 78 year old client, mother of a son with autism, said that for weeks she received no answer and that the office had moved between three different addresses in Netanya.

The investigation also carried out one independent check that settled the matter: in one case the client was told his claim had been filed with the rehabilitation department. A direct enquiry to the department showed that nothing had been filed.

The partner: attorney Guy Gur

Guy Gur, licence number 25188, of an office in Beer Yaakov, appeared in the investigation as Melech’s partner. He too was suspended.

According to public information, Gur is suspended for eight years and five months, from 23 December 2024 until 22 June 2033, in case 061/2022 of the Central District. That is the same case number and the same date as one of the verdicts against Melech. This suggests the two may have been dealt with in a joint proceeding, but the full verdict has not been published and so this cannot be stated as fact.

The gap that let it continue

The clients did what people are told to do. They went to the police. The files were closed. At one station the investigation team was told there was no criminal offence, and the same answer was repeated at other stations. One complainant said that five hours after filing his complaint he was called and told the file was closed and that he should turn to a civil claim.

At the same time, the Israel Bar Association is not permitted to open suspension proceedings before an indictment has been filed. That is what the Bar said in response to the investigation. The indictment against Melech was filed on 25 May 2022, reached the Central District ethics committee on 7 June, and the temporary suspension was ordered on 23 June.

Then came the point that closes the circle. The State Attorney’s Office stated that the defendant had left the country before the indictment was filed, that the court had struck out the indictment in accordance with the law, and that it could be reinstated once she is located. It also stated that there had been no sufficient ground for an order barring her from practising. The Israel Police stated that the investigation is being handled by the fraud unit of the Central District.

The criminal indictment was never adjudicated, and Lea Melech has not been convicted of any criminal offence. What was decided, six times over, is the disciplinary proceeding.

The same office, a far larger case

The name Lea Melech also appears in a separate and much larger case.

In July 2024 the Tel Aviv District Attorney filed a second indictment against attorney Hillel Babayev and two employees of his office in Or Yehuda, containing 35 counts of fraud amounting to 5,768,397 shekels received and an attempt to obtain a further 769,955 shekels. An earlier indictment against him and others, from 2022, contained 48 counts. The total alleged fraud in the two indictments is estimated at around 12 million shekels. Among the clients allegedly defrauded were Holocaust survivors, people with physical and mental disabilities, the elderly and the sick.

The indictment states that Babayev acted, at times together with attorney Lea Melech of his office, to defraud clients through false representations and empty promises. These are the prosecution’s allegations and they have not been adjudicated.

On that case in detail: the Hillel Babayev case.

What to do when a lawyer takes the money and does not file the claim

This case is extreme, but the practical question it raises comes up every day. These are the steps the law makes available to the client:

1. Check what was actually filed. In the civil courts you can find out whether a proceeding was opened in your name. With a public body, such as national insurance or the rehabilitation department, you can ask directly whether a claim was received. That is exactly the check the investigation carried out, and it is available to anyone.
2. Ask for the status of the matter in writing. A request by email creates a record that will serve you later.
3. File a complaint with the district ethics committee of the district where the lawyer is registered. The committee is the prosecutor in the disciplinary proceeding, and the court may order compensation to the complainant, fines and repayment of the fee.
4. Sue separately for the money. The disciplinary proceeding does not replace a civil claim for repayment of the fee and compensation for the damage.
5. Check the limitation period immediately. This is the most urgent step. If the original claim was never filed, it may still be possible to file it, and every week counts.
6. Check the licence status in the Bar Association register before handing money to a new lawyer.