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"They were my brothers and sisters in arms."
– RH&A Client
"The level of talent is tremendous."
– Opposing Counsel

Aisha Dennis

Senior Associate
P 713-652-9000 | F 713-652-9800
adennis@rustyhardin.com | vCard |

With a decade of litigation experience, Aisha brings great care, diligence, and tenacity to her cases.  As a former trial assistant federal public defender, Aisha has served as lead counsel on hundreds of federal criminal cases, securing numerous dismissals and other favorable results for her clients.  She has also served as a staff attorney for the Fourth Amendment Center of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers where she provided nationwide litigation assistance to fellow attorneys in cases involving technologies and surveillance tools that infringed upon constitutional rights.

Aisha has handled both state and federal appeals, with her first ever court appearance being an oral argument before the North Carolina Supreme Court.  She started her legal career in her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina as a law clerk to the Honorable J. Michelle Childs of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.  Aisha went on to clerk for the Honorable James E. Graves, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. 

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  • Education
    • J.D., New York University School of Law, 2013
    • B.A., Harvard University, 2008
  • Professional Memberships
    • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
  • Court Admissions
    • State Bar of Texas
    • State Bar of North Carolina
    • United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
    • United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
    • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    • United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina
    • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • Honors & Awards
    • 500 Leading Litigators in America, Lawdragon, 2024
    • The Best Lawyers in America, 2024
    • NYU Law Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar
    • NAACP LDF Earl Warren Scholar
  • Published Works and Seminars
    • Riling Up the Border Search Doctrine: Litigating Searches of Digital Content at Our Ports of Entry, 42-MAR Champion 40 (2018)
    • Federal Defender Services Office Multi-Track Federal Criminal Defense Seminar, Los Angeles, California:  “Riling Up the Border Search Doctrine:  Litigating Searches of Digital Content at Our Ports of Entry” (August 2018)
    • Federal Public Defenders of New York and the Criminal Justice Act Attorney (“CJA”) Panel; Federal Public Defenders of the Northern District of Texas and its CJA Panel, Federal Public Defenders of the Southern District of Texas and its CJA Panel:  “Challenging the Use of Digital Evidence” (2021-2022)
    • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers “Unlocking the Black Box” Conference, Chicago, Illinois:  “Search, Seize, and Extract:  Challenging Law Enforcement’s Use of Mobile Device Forensic Tools and Technologies in Criminal Cases” Panel (May 2022)
    • Judicial Conference for the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals:  “Fourth Amendment CLE” Panel (May 2022)
    • Federal Bar Association (SDTX Chapter):  “Fourth Amendment Update:  Trends You Need to Know” Panel (June 2023)
  • Published Opinions
    • United States v. Oglesby, No. 4:18-cr-626, 2019 WL 1877228 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 26, 2019)
    • United States v. Opoku, 556 F. Supp. 3d 633 (S.D. Tex. 2021)