Relentless Rusty

America's most influential: High-profile Houston lawyer picks up a major league honor

Houston attorney Rusty Hardin, founder of Rusty Hardin & Associates LLP, has ranked among the National Law Journal's list of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America."

For the ranking, the journal weighed the nation's top attorneys on political clout, legal results and media presence, as well as business- and thought-leadership. Hardin qualified largely based on his results — overwhelmingly positive, despite a tendency to take on tough civil and criminal cases.

Hardin qualified based on his results — overwhelmingly positive, despite a tendency to take on tough civil and criminal cases.

"I'm honored to be named and thankful for all the wonderful people I work with who've helped get such great results for a wide variety of clients, all of whom trust us when they're involved in the most important fights of their lives," Hardin in a statement.

Hardin's high-profile clients have included former baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, who was recently acquitted of perjury charges, and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who Hardin successfully painted as the victim of a police altercation in Houston last summer, plus the estate of Texas billionaire J. Howard Marshall II and oil giant ExxonMobil.

Lisa Blue of Dallas-based firm Baron and Blue, which she ran with her late husband Fred Baron, also made the list, as did personal injury lawyer Mary Alice McLarty of Dallas firm McLarty Pope.

Rusty Hardin, pictured here (right) with Roger Clemens, ranked among "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America."

Photo by Chip Somodevilla Getty Images

Rusty Hardin, pictured here (right) with Roger Clemens, ranked among "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America."

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Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates swipe nearly $2B in packages from Texas homes this year

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

The Grinch isn't the only one stealing Christmas these days.

’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

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