Trevor Asserson

Trevor Asserson (born 26 November 1956) is a British lawyer specialising in litigation. He is the founder and Senior Partner at Asserson Law Offices.

A member of the Law Society, Asserson is active as a lawyer within the Jewish Community in the UK and Israel. He is based in Jerusalem, Israel. Asserson was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and University College School, London. He was awarded an open scholarship to Queen's College, Oxford, where he read modern history, graduating in 1979 with a B.A. Whilst at Oxford, he was an editor of the university's Isis Magazine and won his oar in the college eights.

Legal career Trevor Asserson qualified as a UK solicitor in 1984, going on to work in the litigation department of City Firm Herbert Smith, and later joined Hodge, Jones & Allen, England's largest legal-aid law firm. He set up and led HJ&A's Housing Law department, at the time, the largest in the UK, working principally for the homeless.

Asserson moved to Israel in 1990, where he trained as a lawyer at Israel's premier law firm, Herzog Fox and Ne'eman, being called to the Israeli Bar in 1992. His clients included the UK government, other sovereign states, multinational corporations, and high-net-worth individuals.

Asserson launched Asserson Law Offices (ALO) in 2005, providing UK legal services from an offshore location, ALO is now the largest foreign law firm in Israel.

Since the 1990s, Trevor Asserson has been shortlisted as Litigator of the Year and consistently ranked as a leading litigator in international directories. He has been featured as 'Lawyer of the Week' in The Times, Chambers and Partners, and The Law Society Gazette.

Landmark cases Trevor Asserson was the lead lawyer in Don King Productions Inc. v Warren (December 1998), a major dispute between the leading boxing promoters in the US and the UK.

Representing King in this action, Asserson, a senior litigation partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, had previously acted for King during the prolonged court proceedings following the collapse of his business arrangement with British promoter Frank Warren, which culminated in a $12 million out-of-court settlement. The matter went to the Supreme Court on two separate issues, where the UK Government was defeated 9–0 and 7–2 respectively. Later, in a remarkable instance of the government utilizing its judicial power, the UK Government passed an amending law in attempt to reverse the Supreme Court result. However, the claim was subsequently abandoned and damages paid to Perry.

Asserson represented the Greek government's interest in Macedonia's largest oil refinery, in the case of Okta Crude Oil Refinery v Mamidoil-Jetoil Greek Petroleum Company, in 2003. The case led to various reported decisions, creating numerous precedents.

In 2009, Asserson successfully defended Sonja Kohn, the main defendant in Madoff Securities International Ltd (MSIL) v Raven & Ors. The Madoff estate sought to recover from Kohn c.$59 billion arising out of introductions to the Madoff Ponzi scheme. The Madoff estate paid legal costs on an indemnity basis. Hassell acted in a way that was discriminatory against the needs of the Muslim and Jewish communities. The High Court found Hassell's practice to be "unlawful, irrational" and "discriminatory", and its ruling was hailed as a "victory by AYBS is a victory for the cause of diversity throughout British society." Asserson was selected as Lawyer of the week in The Times for this work.

Public activities In 2000, Asserson founded BBCWatch to analyze BBC media coverage of the Middle East. Between 2000 and 2006, BBCWatch published six studies alleging the BBC's systematic bias against Israel. Asserson appeared on public debates, TV, and radio, concluding that the 'BBC's coverage of the Middle East is infected by a widespread antipathy toward the country'. BBC held a public inquiry into its Middle East coverage and created a senior editorial post to advise on its Middle East coverage. Asserson also acted for CAA in its claim against Bristol University, after prof. David Miller's conduct left Jewish students feeling "unsafe and unprotected." As a result, the university launched an investigation which led the decision to terminate Miller's employment.

In 2023 Trevor published a series of articles relevant to the public debate in Israel concerning potential Judicial reforms that threatened the independence of the Israeli courts.

In 2023, Trevor Asserson launched a legal action against the BBC, accusing it of biased coverage of the Gaza conflict in violation of its editorial guidelines. He asserts that the BBC's report on an explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, initially blamed on Israel, typifies ongoing biased reporting. Asserson argues this reflects a systemic bias within the BBC that undermines its duty to impartiality. Israel Hayom reported that the study revealed a pronounced bias, alleging that the BBC “unequivocally sided with Hamas,” with over 90% of comments showing sympathy for the Palestinians.