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.
33 comments:
One word, dishonest!!!
Who the F is Andy Nolan compared to THE GREAT Wayne Hill? The excellent Joe Salhab? The knowledgeable Dan Gerson?
Tex
Never heard of Andy Nolan but certainly have heard of the others and had to handle cases against them. All good attorneys and you knew it when you dealt with them. As a prosecutor, you better have your facts straight and know the law. Who is Andy Nolan????
I have never heard of Andy Nolan either. However, based on your characterization he sounds like a potential new hire for the Lykos administration......"birds of a feather" and all that.
About a month ago I was at Macy's...I had just finished CLE on Waiving attorney client privilege.
Andy Nolan was walking in just in front of me. He received a call on his cell phone. Apparently from a client. He tok the call on speaker phone (either that or it was so loud I could also hear his client). He then proceeded to allow his client to tell his "story" while others could clearly hear it. I guess Andy does not know about waiving attorney client privilege!
Has this guy had the courage to respond to any of the criticism yet? I liked the idea one of the attorneys miligned had: file a libel suit to get subpoena power and found out what garbage he has been up to.
Okay, Murray, I got to call it like I see it. I think Andy's stunt is immature and tacky. But weren't you well known in the DA's office for playing jokes on others with fake emails and computer jokes? While none were meant to build yourself up while tearing down others like Andy, you did your fair share of embarrassing your colleagues! I still love ya but you sound a little disingenuous with this column...
Anon 4:57: BS. pranks around the office between friends that don't hurt anyone are vastly different than false ratings on a service that some people use to making hiring decisions. If a lousy lawyer deceives someone into hiring him on a case that the lawyer is incompetent to handle that hurts the individual and the profession. I take it that Nolan isn't friends with anyone he libeled and that strangers who need competent legal help might be hurt. Quite different than a call to intake to play a trick on a friend. Consider the motive...
Murray, do you think Andy Nolan is in fact the near-do-well Rage Judicata?
Anon 5:24 p.m.,
No, I don't think Andy is Rage. Although I usually disagree with Rage, he isn't an idiot. He's actually pretty damn intelligent. Just misguided -- kidding, Rage.
Anon 4:57 p.m.,
I am very proud of the title of King of the Practical Joke when I was at the D.A.'s Office. But I never pulled a practical joke on somebody I didn't like, and nothing I ever did was mean spirited. I never lost a friend or had one angry with me over anything I ever did to them, and I could take a practical joke in retaliation with the best of them.
And I never never never pulled a joke on anyone that could have potentially affected their job.
You are comparing apples with oranges, dude.
If you guys are enlightened, I am more than happy to be misguided.
(I'm really Mark Bennett.)
Murray, what this guy doing is not right but you would be surprised at the number of lawyers you know who will run down a fellow lawyer to get a case. Bragging on the internet about winning a case is the same thing to me and others. many cases are won when the sentence is lower than the rec from the d a. Look at some of the lawyers websites who brag they are experts on everything and call themselves legendary lawyers. Dont you also find that offensive. What happened to word of mouth referrals?
Andy Nolan is an asshole.
Murray, when has Rage said anything that leads you to believe he is intelligent? His opinions are based on half stories. I don't believe him to be any dumber than the masses, who read a headline and form a knee jerk opinion without considering whether there is another side to the story. But he has certainly shown nothing to show intellect.
Before he fires a half witted response about not considering someone smart just because I disagree, I will freely admit that I believe Mark Bennett, Troy McKinney, and a series of others intelligent even though I vehemently disagree with them. The difference is that their opinions are based on actual experience and not newspaper headlines.
As I have said before, Rage uses the anonymity of the internet to make blanket statements with no accountability. That is why he won't give a name, even though he claims he has nothing to lose by doing so.
Come on Murray, approve my other post too...
As for my stories being based only on headlines... the on;y thing I've really posted about to any degree as of late is the exoneration of Ricardo Rachell, and his exoneration is proof enough that at least three ADA's cared nothing about justice and ignored exculpatory evidence in his case leading to the conviction of an innocent man. And that is not an isolated case.
So, say what you want about my posts not being based in truth, but you're just flat-out dishonest in doing so.
Rage
Rage,
I've gotten multiple complaints the past two days about posts not going through. I'm not getting them.
I don't know what is going on.
I haven't blocked anything from you in months.
Despite repeated requests to do so. :-)
I bet. Tell them they have only you to blame, you said you missed me.
It showed up above though. They must just be coming through late, since that's the third or fourth time of late that they showed quite a bit later than they were posted.
Rage
I called Andy Nolen and got his assitant who wouldn't shut up about how Andy has been in practice 17 years and would never even think of doing something like this. I am on vacation and didn't investigate it on my own yesterday but went of Bennett's and others' emails to me. I read all the posts about him today and I was able to check it out. I called that asshole's office back today. "What say you now" to the lying assistant, and he still denied it but did so in a much more suspicious and less convincing tone than when I called yesterday. I told him his and Andy's denials were not truthful and they were full of shit and I would be grieving him. I also told him to give me a call personally today. Haven't heard from him. Piece of Shit!
I called him and told his assistant I expect a call back to explain himself and haven't heard a thing.
Piece of Shit!
Has anyone ever seen him try a case? Funny that he would be bad mouthing trial attorneys because all he ever does is plead people. He's not even competing for the same clients!
Andy Nolen is no Rocket Rosen and I know Rocket Rosen.
Tyler--You are AWESOME.
Tyler, you stated: " I am on vacation and didn't investigate it on my own yesterday but went of Bennett's and others' emails to me."
Forget the main topic of this stream. Please tell me where you went on VACATION so I can avoid this relaxing place. :)>
Hey Judge!! You have my vote in 2010...By the way Andy, did you see that?? Judges read this blog and they know all about you. You have lost any shred of credibility you once had. You are a sorry excuse for a lawyer. You are a sorry excuse for a human being. You owe a personal apology to every attorney you libeled. Of all the people in the world you could libel, you choose a group of people who go to court and actually try cases in front of a jury...Not very smart!11
"You are a sorry excuse for a human being. You owe a personal apology to every attorney you libeled. Of all the people in the world you could libel, you choose a group of people who go to court and actually try cases in front of a jury...Not very smart!"
Funny you should mention libel. I wonder if any of you have any proof or any evidence that Andy did any of things that you allege? Funny also you should mention going to court. Remember, courts require evidence. Some of you have made rather serious allegations against Andy Nolen, and foolishly signed your name to them. Are you prepared to produce evidence in court that he committed any of these acts? Because if you aren't, I would suggest that you stop making allegations that you cannot prove. I would think that attorneys would know better than to take rumors, without any proof other than innuendo and suggestions, and start making serious accusations against someone. Because you are right about one thing, some attorneys actually try all sorts of cases in front of juries, and win.
Hey 4:36,
But you sure as hell are not a top shelf trial attorney so shut the fuck up.
You have no idea who I am. If you do, give me a call. Again, unless you can produce some evidence of anything, do you really think its wise to make accusations? And saying you know my trial record just makes you look foolish. You don't even know if I am an attorney. As further evidence of your stupidity and your willingness to assume, did it say anywhere in there that I would be the one trying the case? I wonder if you are any kind of trial attorney, because an experienced trial attorney would know better than to make factual assertions that he can't back up with evidence. Or at least he should, but given the last few days and the stunning behavior of some attorneys on here that should know that they are putting themselves in legal peril, I wonder.
Lawyers bashing and lying about other lawyers so that the liars can get business has been going on probably since the beginning of the profession. Some of the so called great and honorable members of the Harris Defense bar do it as well, just not on the internet.
It's nothing new. No honor...well, you know the rest.
Anon 6:13. Your right. There is reasonable suspicion, but little admissible evidence at this point. However, as we pointed out yesterday, one of the agrieved lawyers can sue and gain access to the ISP through subpoena or discovery. Or this guy can sue and still process would be available to see if he or some proxy did this. Or this guy could just take the censure from the CJ community and let it go.
lawyers are like used car salesmen all are crooks
Ricky, Looks like a lot of lawyers and Judges are crooks from seeing what some of them do.Some of them are vultures.
Punk 613,
Your bravado exposes your pretense; neither of which amounts to shit. So if you haven't already signed up with Team Troll you're missing your calling. Judge Pat is looking for big talkers with little sticks.
having born the brunt of more than a few of murray's jokes while he was at the office, I can tell you for a fact that nothing murray ever did would compare to this. His targets were his friends and we all laughed with him when we got suckered. Murray brought a degree of levity to a place that is often depressing. I for one...miss him around there.
You know he's disbarred now, right?
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