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Rusty Hardin & Associates Adds Two Lawyers and Earns Top Accolades

HOUSTON — Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP, has added two lawyers to its capable team at the same time it is being recognized for both civil and criminal legal expertise and accomplishments among the nation’s Best Law Firms by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America.

 “This is a great time for the hard-working team at our firm. We’ve added two terrific lawyers and we’ve been acknowledged by a national group for both our criminal and civil work,” said founding partner Rusty Hardin.

Attorney Chelsea Dal Corso joins Rusty Hardin & Associates from Bracewell, LLP, where she worked in the financial restructuring group, representing debtors and creditors in complex Chapter 11 proceedings. She clerked for Judge Marvin Isgur, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Texas. She earned her law degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

Lawyer Naomi Howard comes to the firm from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where she served as briefing attorney. She received her law degree at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. Ms. Howard also spent time in Japan where she taught English and is one of few women to have trained as a sushi chef.

The firm is listed in the 2017 top tier of Houston metropolitan law firms for white-collar criminal defense and in the second tier for commercial litigation. It is extraordinary for a firm of only 14 lawyers to be honored in two such different categories. The Best Law Firms selection is based on a rigorous process that includes client and lawyer evaluations and peer review from other attorneys in the same practice areas.

Rusty Hardin & Associates is highly unusual for a small boutique in that it regularly handles civil, criminal and appellate cases. The firm is often involved in high-profile litigation that gains statewide or national attention. Though firm founder Rusty Hardin is nationally known, he points to the astounding talents of the litigators and appellate lawyers he works with at the firm.

Texas Lawyer recently selected the firm as a 2016 Litigation Department of the Year honoree. The award was based on several distinctive case wins, including one that changed Texas law governing private police forces; a multimillion-dollar verdict in an oil patch dispute; and a verdict in favor of a billionaire oilman delivered by a small-town jury. The Hardin legal team also convinced a jury to acquit a man who had become a political scapegoat in a yearlong, high-profile investigation in Austin. And the firm won vindication and a million-dollar-plus settlement for a Houston lawyer whose employer fired her for speaking the truth.

In addition, four lawyers with Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP, were individually recognized among the top attorneys in the country by earning selection to the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and one of the most respected peer-review lawyer guides. Best Lawyers honored Mr. Hardin for his white-collar defense and civil work, partners Andy Drumheller and Derek Hollingsworth for their white-collar criminal defense work, and Of Counsel Cathy Cochran for her appellate work.

Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP, has built a solid reputation for taking on the causes of its clients and obtaining favorable results in civil matters, significant criminal cases and appellate fights. For more information, please visit https://www.rustyhardin.com/.