Rusty Hardin Featured in “Trial Ace” Profile by National Legal News Service Law360

Rusty Hardin was named a national “Trial Ace” and featured in a laudatory profile by the national legal news service Law 360. The profile is here: Trial Ace: Hardin & Associates’ Rusty Hardin (subscription required).

The article mentions some of Hardin’s triumphs and hard cases from successfully defending Roger Clemens to taking on Anna Nicole Smith on the stand, and notes he hasn’t lost faith in juries.  “I basically worship at the fountain of juries,” Hardin told Law360. “I think that juries are not only the hallmark of our system, but the only way we can keep people honest.”

The Law360 piece noted that Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld  partner Steven Zager, a friend of Hardin's who once faced off against him in a trade secrets case, called him “a master of the courtroom.” Zager said Hardin was the best trial attorney he knew. “I think when God molded Rusty Hardin, he made him to be a trial lawyer,” Zager said.  “I think what makes Rusty special is that he doesn't presume to be any better than the folks he's talking to on jury,” he told Law360. Jurors tend to see Hardin as someone they'd like to have a beer with, Zager told Law360. He's in no position to blame them, since he enjoyed a beer with Hardin after the trial where they faced off, he said.

Chip Babcock, a partner at Jackson Walker and friend of Hardin's, said he knows Hardin puts in the time for his clients. “I work pretty hard, and there are many nights when I leave what I think is late at night, and his car's still there,” Babcock told the reporter. “There are a lot of times when I get in what I think is early in the morning, and his car has beaten me there.”