Asher has particular experience in public and administrative law, the Treaty of Waitangi, professional disciplinary processes and government inquiries. He has appeared as junior counsel in the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Waitangi Tribunal, and various specialist tribunals. He has assisted a number of government inquiries. 

Asher joined the bar in 2018 as a junior barrister at Clifton Chambers before moving to Masons Lane Chambers in 2023. Previously, he worked as a judges' clerk at the High Court and an investigator in the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Asher is approved to provide legal aid services for civil claims.

Terms of engagement

Areas of expertise

  • Asher’s public and administrative law experience includes, as junior counsel:

    • Obtaining a declaratory judgment for an incorporated society challenging the administration of aspects of the Gambling Act 2003 (Feed Families Not Pokies v Secretary for Internal Affairs [2024] NZHC 217)

    • Representing Hokotehi Moriori Trust in a successful defence of judicial review proceedings (Kamo v Minister of Conservation [2020] NZCA 1, [2020] 2 NZLR 746 and Kamo v Minister of Conservation [2018] NZHC 1983)

    • Advising a school in the successful defence of judicial review proceedings relating to funding of state-integrated schools (Gifford v Secretary for Education [2022] NZHC 1875)

    • Advising Police in a successful appeal of an Employment Court decision concerning the interpretation of the Policing Act 2008 (Commissioner of Police v New Zealand Police Association Incorporated [2022] NZCA 342)

    • Advising and representing various individuals subject to, and organisations responsible for administering, professional disciplinary processes

    • Advising various public entities about issues of public and private law

  • Asher’s government inquiry experience includes, as junior counsel:

    • Supporting counsel assisting the inquiry into Operation Burnham

    • Supporting counsel assisting the public inquiry into EQC

    • Supporting counsel assisting the Public Service Commission investigation of allegations of wrongful expenditure of public money by former Waikato DHB Chief Executive

    • Supporting counsel assisting various government department internal investigations

  • Asher’s Treaty of Waitangi experience includes, as junior counsel:

    • Representing Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki Nui-ā-Rua Settlement Trust in a remedies phase of a Waitangi Tribunal District Inquiry relating to applications for resumption of certain SOE and forestry land (The Wairarapa ki Tararua District Inquiry, Wai 863)

    • Representing the Crown in a Treaty settlement mandate inquiry before the Waitangi Tribunal (The Whakatōhea Mandate Inquiry Report, Wai 2662, 8 May 2018)