When We All Agree

If you read this blog and other legal blogs with any regularity, you have probably figured out that I'm often in the minority on a lot of issues when it comes to agreeing with my friends Cynthia Henley, Paul Kennedy, and Mark Bennett.

But today, I think the four of us are all in agreement in condemning the behavior of Andy Nolen, a local defense attorney in Harris County, Texas. Based on the research of Cynthia, Paul and Marky Mark, it appears that Andy has been creating a false "profile" on the internet to go about blasting other defense attorneys while praising himself. The trick he was pulling is pretty simple -- rate all these other attorneys with the lowest possible rating while giving himself stellar marks. It's about as grade school and immature of a stunt as one can pull.

It's unbecoming of freshman in high school, let alone an attorney with several years under his belt.

Let me just say this -- out of the four of us (me, Mark, Cynthia, and Paul), I'm the only one who was ever a prosecutor. I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying to point out that I faced some very formidable opponents in my time. I never dealt with Paul on a professional basis, but I did deal with both Mark and Cynthia. I also dealt with the vast majority of the other attorneys that Andy Nolen decided to anonymously bash -- Wayne Hill, Dan Gerson, Joe Salhab, and Dane Johnson to name a few.

All of them are excellent attorneys who do honor to the Harris County Criminal Justice System.

I also dealt with Andy Nolen. His contribution to the reputation of the Defense Bar never held a candle to any of those he dared to insult.

I have said it before and I will say it again -- I believe Harris County to be home to some of the greatest prosecutors and defense attorneys in the history of Criminal Justice. It's an honor to walk amongst the Giants of Litigation that I've worked with for ten years now.

Andy isn't one of them.

And his actions have diminished the reputations of not just the attorneys he maligned with his fake reviews -- it diminishes us all.

He should be ashamed of himself.

But knowing him and the way he acts, he's probably too foolish to realize it.