Russell "Rusty" Hardin Jr. (born October 6, 1941) is an American attorney and head of the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

law firm Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C. which he established in 1996.

Early life

Hardin attended a private military academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee, called

Baylor School Baylor School, commonly called Baylor, is a private school, private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1893, the school's current campus comprises 690 acres and enrolls students in grad ...

(now a coed, independent day and boarding school). He graduated in 1960 and was influenced by one of his teachers at Baylor, Stan Lewis, to attend

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

. Hardin is a 1965 graduate of Wesleyan and went on to earn his J.D. degree in 1975 at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Dedman School of Law in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Career

During the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal sparked by American energy company Enron, Enron Corporation filing for bankruptcy after news of widespread internal fraud became public in October 2001, which led to the dissolution of its accounting ...

, Hardin represented the accounting firm of

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

. His efforts resulted in the US Supreme Court unanimously overturning the firm's conviction of obstruction of justice in 2005. Hardin has represented and won favorable verdicts for athletes such as Rudy Tomjanovich,

Warren Moon Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956) is an American former professional Gridiron football, football player who was a quarterback for 23 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He spent most of h ...

, Wade Boggs, Rafer Alston, Scottie Pippen, Steve Francis, and Calvin Murphy. Another former client is Roger Clemens, who had been embroiled in accusations of having perjured himself before Congress over alleged steroid use. Clemens was acquitted on June 18, 2012, on all charges that he obstructed justice and lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs as a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher. Other clients include Michael Bennett of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

; Deshaun Watson formerly of the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

and currently of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

; Adrian Peterson, accused of child abuse; and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

driver

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...

, who was accused of domestic abuse against his former girlfriend. Hardin successfully represented Victoria Osteen, wife of TV evangelist and bestselling author

Joel Osteen Joel Scott Osteen ( ; born March 5, 1963) is an American pastor, televangelist, businessman, and author based in Houston, Texas, United States. Known for his weekly televised services and several best-selling books, Osteen is one of the more ...

, in a civil lawsuit filed by a

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

flight attendant. The flight attendant claimed that she had been pushed by Osteen, and sought civil damages, but a

jury acquitted her in 2008. Hardin also won a favorable verdict for the estate of Texas millionaire J. Howard Marshall. A jury found that the estate owed nothing to Marshall's widow, former

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

model

Anna Nicole Smith Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith started her career as a ''Playboy'' magazine centerfold in M ...

, who married Marshall when he was 89 years old. Hardin represented the family of

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

pitcher

Tyler Skaggs Tyler Wayne Skaggs (July 13, 1991July 1, 2019) was an American professional baseball starting pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels from 2012 until his death in 2019. A native of ...

, who died on July 1, 2019. In early June 2023, the Texas House committee investigating Texas attorney general

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...

announced the hiring of Hardin and fellow high-profile attorney

Dick DeGuerin Dick DeGuerin (born February 16, 1941, in Austin, Texas) is an American criminal defense attorney based in Houston, most notable for defending Tom DeLay, Allen Stanford, David Koresh, and Robert Durst. In 1994, DeGuerin was named Outstanding Cr ...

as impeachment prosecutors.

References

External links

Official SiteBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardin, Rusty 1941 births American lawyers Enron scandal Living people Southern Methodist University alumni Wesleyan University alumni