Asi Messing

Asi Messing is the Head of Public and Economic Law at Herzog.

Between March 2016 and March 2025, he served as head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance. The head of the legal Department of the Ministry of Finance provides legal counsel to the Minister of Finance, the Director-General, the Budget Department, the Accountant General’s Office, the Chief Economist, and other headquarters units. Asi headed the legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and served as a member of the Ministry of Finance’s executive management.

As part of his role, he gained extensive experience in providing legal counsel to all ministry departments, while equipping the ministry with all the legal tools and measures necessary to implement its policies and operations. Furthermore, he acquired an in-depth understanding of the legal-economic aspects of the various government ministries and entities with which the Ministry of Finance interfaces.

Asi played a central role in drafting the Economic Arrangements Law, which is promoted alongside the annual Budget Law, as well as accompanying reforms. He led the legal work for economic programs for the years 2017–2025.

Major reforms included: raising the retirement age for women, the pension yield-guarantee mechanism, licensing via authorized professionals, the Metro Law, the congestion charge law for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, the National Infrastructure Promotion Law, the Financial Information Services Law, the Payment Services Regulation Law, and others.

Asi possesses expertise in budget law, including its implications for statutory corporations, state-funded entities, government companies, and municipalities. Throughout his various positions at the Ministry of Finance, he led several significant amendments to the Basic Law: The State Economy and the Budget Foundations Law.

Additionally, during these years, Asi led the legal counsel for the Ministry of Finance across a wide range of activities, addressing complex issues in variety of fields, including: financial regulation, capital markets, national infrastructure, management of state assets and privatizations. These included various legislative initiatives promoted by the Ministry of Finance, secondary legislation, government resolutions, tenders, grants, recovery arrangements, the issuance of permits, price controls, and more. Furthermore, the Legal Department at the Ministry of Finance serves as the guiding authority on tender and public procurement laws for various government ministries and other entities subject to mandatory tender requirements.

During Asi’s tenure as Legal Counsel to the Ministry of Finance, he gained extensive experience in crisis management.

In March 2020, he was appointed as a member of a Ministry of Finance team to address the COVID-19 crisis and its implications, specifically to examine the relevant economic and market aspects resulting from the outbreak. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, he led the Legal Department in a series of initiatives, including amendments to the Basic Law: The State Economy to Increase Budgetary Expenditure, regulations regarding workplace restrictions, and government aid programs.

Similarly, following the events of October 7, 2023, and the onset of the “Iron Swords” war, Asi led the Legal Department in amending the state budget and drafting emergency economic assistance laws, compensation schemes for war-affected businesses, and government resolutions on economic support.

Throughout his term as Legal Counsel to the Ministry of Finance, Asi served on advisory committees to the Commissioner of Capital Markets, Insurance, and Savings, dealing with the regulation of institutional entities and regulated financial services.

Additionally, between 2016–2020 and 2021–2023, Asi was a member of the Government Companies Authority Committee for the sale of State shares, where he was a partner in the privatization processes of Israel Military Industries ltd. (IMI) and Israel Post Company.

From 2002 to 2015, Asi served in a variety of roles within the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance. In this capacity, he held legal responsibility for a wide range of economic sectors.

Among these, Asi was responsible for providing legal counsel to the Capital Markets, Insurance, and Savings Division regarding pension savings regulatory reforms. Furthermore, he was a member of the Public Committee for Distribution of Pension Savings Between Divorcing Spouses – implementing legislation and policy.

During these years, Asi was responsible for the budgetary pension arrangements within the State and the public sector, leading several legislative proceedings in this field. Additionally, he was responsible for the Ministry of Finance’s legal oversight of the defense establishment and all its branches, the transportation, communications, and water sectors, and the economic relations with the Palestinian Authority.

Since 2020, Asi has served as an adjunct lecturer at Tel Aviv University, and during 2025 and 2026, he was a Research Fellow at the Rubinstein Center for Constitutional Challenges.