Only two lawyers in Southeast Texas are both Board Certified in Criminal Law and Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Texas; Ryan Gertz is one of them. Focused on defending serious state and federal criminal charges, Ryan routinely tries complex cases and has met with great success.

Toby F. Nash is a native of Beaumont, Texas who began his legal career at Germer in 2005. He graduated magna cum laude from Lamar University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting in 2002. Toby graduated in the top two percent of his Texas Tech Law School class, receiving his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, summa cum laude. While in law school, he served as Comment Editor on the Texas Tech Law Review and was the recipient of the Lamar University/Texas Tech University School of Law Presidential Scholarship. Toby was initiated into the Order of the Coif and the legal honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Delta Phi. In November 2005 he was admitted to the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before Texas state courts and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Toby is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Jefferson County Bar Association, Jefferson County Young Lawyers Association, National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, and Texas Association of Defense Counsel. Toby practices in the areas of Appellate Law, Class Action, Civil Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Family Law, Maritime Law, Personal Injury Defense, Rail Transportation/Railroad, and Transportation and Trucking Litigation.

Valerie is Southeast Texas born and raised and is a proud alumni of All Saints Episcopal School (c/o 2000), West Brook High School (c/o 2004), Rice University (c/o 2008), and Tulane University Law School School (c/o 2014). Before law school, she spent one year teaching English in rural France. She subsequently served two years as a Teach For America Corps Member in Northern California, where she taught seventh grade English as part of Teach For America’s mission to make excellent education equitable for all children and fought for an uncompromising belief in every child. Valerie’s advocacy skills also carry into her volunteer efforts in the Southeast Texas community, where she has served on the Boards of Directors of the Junior League of Beaumont, the Michelle M. Mehaffy Inn of Court, the Jefferson County Young Lawyers Association, and the Foundation for Southeast Texas.

If you are facing a serious criminal charge in the Houston area, you'll need an experienced, quality, aggressive defense attorney. The name that should stand above the others when you seek an attorney is Houston's — Ned Barnett. Ned Barnett is a skilled and leading Houston criminal defense lawyer with nearly 30 years of practical legal experience that includes trying criminal cases as a state and federal prosecutor, as well as more than 20 years as a defense lawyer. Since opening his firm in 1994, Ned has represented countless individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses from DWI, to sex crimes and violent offenses. Barnett is a native of Houston who followed his father, grandfathers, and great-grandfather into legal practice when he pursued his lifelong dream of becoming a criminal defense attorney. After earning his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 1987, he sharpened his trial skills as a prosecutor in Galveston County and with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Houston before taking on the mantle of criminal defense. As an assistant district attorney in Galveston, Barnett prosecuted countless DWI cases, as well as serious felonies including rape, robbery, and murder. During his time as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s office, he focused on large drug prosecutions and gained a valuable perspective on how the government pursues cases involving international narcotics trafficking. Regardless of the offense, whether it’s a misdemeanor DWI or a felony sex crime, Barnett understands how devastating and disruptive a criminal charge can be for the person accused and how necessary a positive result is for your career and life. Barnett fights to obtain the best possible result for each person he defends, with the goal of helping defendants to move on with their lives and leave the stress and uncertainty of a criminal charge behind them. He brings a blend of compassion, discretion, superior ethics, and sharp trial skills to each case, as well as a commitment to providing personal, one-on-one service and communication. For free case evaluation with our reputable law firm, call (713) 222-6767.