November 1, 2016 -- Texas Lawyer featured a story about Rusty Hardin & Associates LLP after selecting the firm as a Litigation Department of the Year honoree in 2016.
“In 2015, the Hardin firm successfully took on much larger firms—and prosecutors’ offices—in high-profile cases with widespread impact,” the Texas Lawyer story published in November states.
Texas Lawyer wrote that “in 2015, the firm used both its criminal and its civil expertise to help two former public officials.”
The publication detailed the acquittal the Hardin form obtained for Jerry Cobbs, a former high-ranking official with the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. In a trial in this Travis County criminal case prosecuted by the DA’s Public Integrity Unit, the Hardin firm obtained a jury acquittal convincing jurors their client did not personally benefit from the $11 million grant for a biotechnology firm in question.
The legal newspaper went on to detail the Hardin firm win for former chancellor and general counsel of Houston Community College, Renee Byas. HCC fired Byas after she went to the FBI with concerns about possible kickbacks involving trustees’ friends. The school also sued Byas to keep her from speaking publicly about the matter. But the Hardin firm obtained a $1.2 million settlement for Byas, as well as a letter of recommendation from the school, Texas Lawyer noted.
And the story noted “the firm’s appellate work won a significant ruling that changed Texas law concerning private police forces.” This refers to work the Hardin firm did for Rice University and one of its police officers who was sued for false imprisonment. The firm obtained a Texas Supreme Court ruling that helped not only their own client but others when the court ruled privately employed officers had “all a police officer’s powers, privileges and immunities.”