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Henry Asbill

Henry Asbill
Henry Asbill
Partner
  • Education:
  • Georgetown University Law Center
  • Princeton University
  • Bar Admissions:
  • District of Columbia
  • New York

OVERVIEW

Hank Asbill provides clients with more than four decades of exemplary jury trial and appellate experience. Over the course of his career, he has successfully defended corporate and individual clients in a wide range of criminal and civil matters in more than 100 trials and 30 appeals in federal and state courts across the country. His work includes white collar defense, securities litigation, complex civil litigation, and antitrust and corporate investigations.

Mr. Asbill is a master of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, past president and Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, member of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, past president of the D.C. Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and former two-term director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

A frequent lecturer on trial work, including the creative use of character evidence in both criminal and civil litigation, Mr. Asbill is a former adjunct professor of criminal and civil trial practice at Georgetown University Law Center and a former instructor at the Federal Judicial Center training program for federal district judges.

EXPERIENCE

Select representative matters:


  • Defended former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, whose public corruption convictions were unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the government overreached in defining when a public servant’s actions are “official acts.”

  • Represented on appeal Bridget Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose trial conviction was reversed in a unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • Defended Mahmood Karzai, the brother of Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan, in a federal grand jury investigation in the Southern District of New York, regarding alleged tax, money laundering, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations,that concluded without any charges being brought.

  • Achieved an appellate victory in defending the estate of Michael Jackson and MJJ Productions, Inc., when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that what the plaintiff referred to as “newly discovered evidence” was not admissible.

  • Won successive criminal and civil jury trials involving securities-fraud charges brought against a former vice president of a mainstream online service provider by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • Secured an acquittal on all counts for a lead defendant in a RICO case in the longest criminal trial in federal court history.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Asbill joined Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears as a partner in August 2024. Before joining the firm, Mr. Asbill was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Buckley LLP, Jones Day, and Dewey & LeBoeuf. Earlier in his career, Mr. Asbill served as a trial and appellate attorney in the District of Columbia Public Defender Service. He clerked for the Honorable John W. Kern III on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

recognition

Chambers USA describes Mr. Asbill as “[o]ne of the best, if not the best criminal defense trial attorney in the country … absolutely fearless … superb at cross-examining … aggressive when he needs to be … one of the legends of the white-collar bar … [and] a very forceful advocate who commands the courtroom.” Mr. Asbill received the White Collar Defense Lawyer of the Year Award in 2015 from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He has also been recognized by Benchmark Litigation in 2019 as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in the United States, as well as a top practitioner in White Collar, Antitrust, Appellate, General
Commercial, and Securities Litigation; The Legal 500 (Corporate Investigations and White-collar Criminal Defense); Best Lawyers in America (Criminal Defense: White Collar, Criminal Defense: General Practice, Commercial Litigation, Litigation: Regulatory Enforcement, Bet the Company Litigation); Euromoney’s World’s Leading White Collar Crime Lawyers; Washingtonian magazine; and Super Lawyers. He was profiled in The National Law Journal’s “Winning” report featuring the nation’s top litigators, and SmartCEO magazine called him a “go to” lawyer for white-collar criminal defense and commercial litigation.

Mr. Asbill regularly writes and speaks on legal issues and trial strategy, including the following:



    Selected Recent Speaking Engagements:

  • PACDL Annual White Collar Seminar, November 2024. Hank Asbill delivered the keynote address, “Behind the Scenes of the McDonnell Case.”

  • ABA 10th Annual Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute, September 2024. Hank Asbill served on panel addressing Ethical Issues in High Profile Criminal Cases.

  • Great Criminal Trial Lawyers: Winning Strategies, March 4, 2024. Four national prominent defense lawyers address the central components of a criminal trial.

  • 31 st Annual National Seminar on Federal Sentencing, August 31, 2022 – September 2, 2022. Hank Asbill joined a panel of experts to discuss issues that arise when clients want to present untrue or ethically challenged evidence at sentencing from the prosecution and defense perspective.

  • Stetson Law Review Symposium, February 25, 2022.  Hank Asbill discussed white collar ethics issues, particularly those arising in internal investigations, such as who is the client, what is the role of counsel, and issues of confidentiality.

  • The Federal Fraud Sentencing Guidelines: It’s Time to Stop the Madness, December 7, 2020.  Hank Asbill shared his experience in an NYCBA panel discussion on fraud sentencing that offers defense attorneys strategies on how to convince judges to focus on the individual defendant rather than rely completely on sentencing guidelines.

  • Honest Services Fraud Prosecutions | Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court Meeting, September 17, 2020.  This panel discussed recent developments in HSF prosecutions and defenses.

ATTORNEYS

The attorneys of Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears bring deep experience, practical judgment, and vigorous advocacy to the matters we handle. Our lawyers include former federal prosecutors, former members of the Antitrust and Tax Divisions of the Department of Justice, and a former Assistant to the Solicitor General. We have tried cases large and small, have briefed and argued numerous appeals, and also have the skill and acumen to negotiate resolutions of matters when it is in the best interests of our clients.  More detailed biographies of our attorneys are accessible below.

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Experience. Judgment. Results.

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