Rusty Hardin
Russell (Rusty) Hardin, Jr. (born on October 6, 1941, in Durham, North Carolina) is an American attorney[1][2] and head of the Houston law firm Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C. which he established in 1996.
Hardin attended a private military academy in Chattanooga Tennessee called Baylor school. He graduated from Baylor in 1960. He was influenced by one of his teachers at Baylor, Stan Lewis, to attend Wesleyan university. Baylor is now a coed independent day and boarding school on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.
Hardin is a 1965 graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He went on to earn his law degree in 1975 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
During the Enron scandal, Hardin represented the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen. 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, Wade Boggs, Rafer Alston, Scottie Pippen, Steve Francis, and Calvin Murphy. A former client is Roger Clemens, who had been embroiled in accusations of having perjured himself before Congress over alleged steroid use. Roger 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 fast-balling pitcher. Current clients include Adrian Peterson, accused of child abuse [3] and NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, who is accused of domestic abuse against his former girlfriend.[4]
Hardin successfully represented Victoria Osteen, wife of TV evangelist and bestselling author Joel Osteen, in a civil lawsuit filed by a Continental Airlines flight attendant. The flight attendant claimed that she had been pushed by Osteen, and sought civil damages, but a Houston, TX jury acquitted her in 2008. Hardin also won a favorable verdict for his client the estate of Texas millionaire J. Howard Marshall. A jury found that the estate owed nothing to Marshall's widow, former Playboy bunny and stripper Anna Nicole Smith, who married Marshall when he was 89 years old.[5]