Article & Journal Resources

The New York Times profiles Rusty Hardin, the lawyer hired by Roger Clemens to defend him from claims he used steroids. Here's how one Texas writer described the high-profile Houston lawyer in a profile. "He is all things a great defender must be raconteur, showman, charmer, tactician, egotist and he has a ferocious charisma that a rival once described as slicker 'n deer guts on a doorknob.'"

Hardin has repeatedly lambasted the 400-page report on drug use in baseball prepared by another lawyer, George Mitchell. He accuses Mitchell of McCarthyism -- a phrase inspired by another lawyer -- in naming players without adequate proof of wrongdoing.

Very good, well-respected people are sometimes wrong, Hardin told the Times about Mitchell. They are wrong not through malice, not through intent, but they are wrong. None of us is beyond making a mistake." He added: "Theres this automatic assumption to believe what the Mitchell report says."

Scott Atlas of Weil Gotshal in Houston gives the Times an insightful quote that, in describing Hardin, really describes the traits of any good lawyer: He outworks everybody. And primarily he does his own investigation, pursues every lead, doesnt take anything for granted. I would say that is what really sets him apart from most lawyers. He will challenge every assumption people have to see what happened, and thats whats happening here.

After 15 years as a prosecutor, Hardin (Wesleyan, SMU Law) -- Go Cardinals! -- went into private practice in 1990. Rusty Hardin & Associates is a nine-lawyer firm specializing in trial work (check out the firm's fun bio page). He has successfully represented a stable of professional athletes who have found themselves in hot water. In 2002, he lost a six-week trial representing Arthur Andersen on charges it destroyed Enron documents.

Though on his Web site he says, "I worship at the shrine of juries," in his representation of Clemens he finds himself outside the courtroom. He tells the Times: "Were having to try this thing in the court of public opinion, where there are no rules."