Attorneys

Tom Nolan has over thirty years of trial experience in highly complex criminal cases, including white collar criminal defense and defense of high-tech intellectual property cases. He received his J.D. from the University of California at Davis in 1970. He has served as a Judge Pro Tem in both Superior and Municipal Courts. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and for the last thirteen years has been included in The Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Nolan has been certified for the last 25 years as a criminal law specialist by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He has been listed as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in California by the Daily Journal and one of the best lawyers in Silicon Valley by San Jose Magazine.

A past president of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Mr. Nolan is also an active member of the state and local bar associations and was a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.

Mr. Nolan has been a Consulting Professor at Stanford Law School, where he has taught Advanced Criminal Procedure, White Collar Crime, and Trial Advocacy. Mr. Nolan is an authority on the defense of intellectual property offenses. He has lectured throughout the state and has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. A well-known expert on the competency of counsel and the function of the defense attorney, Mr. Nolan has testified as an expert witness on numerous occasions.

Mike Armstrong graduated from Stanford University in 1970. He spent the next five years in Florence, Italy, before returning to the United States to attend Northwestern University School of Law.

Upon graduation, Mr. Armstrong spent two years with the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office and three years in private practice in Hayward, California. He joined the firm in 1984. Mr. Armstrong is certified as a criminal specialist by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization and has served as a Judge Pro Tem in Superior Court. He has also served on the Board of Trustees for both the Santa Clara County Bar Association and the Palo Alto Area Bar Association. Each year since they began the survey, Mr. Armstrong has been chosen as one of a handful of criminal defense attorneys in San Jose Magazine's annual Best Lawyers in the Silicon Valley.

Actively involved in the community, Mr. Armstrong is a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, has served as President of the Board of Trustees at the Trinity School in Menlo Park, and has been an advisor to fraternities at Stanford University.

Dan Barton has been practicing criminal defense in the mid-peninsula since 1988. He received his A.B., Magna cum Laude, in 1983 from Brown University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and awarded the Prize for Academic Excellence in Latin American Studies. Mr. Barton received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1988, where his honors included induction into the Order of the Coif. Mr. Barton is a criminal law specialist certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization and a specialist member of California Deuce Defenders. Working with the Palo Alto Area Bar Association, he set up the Lawyers in the Classroom project which brought discussions of constitutional law issues to 10th grade students at Palo Alto and Gunn High Schools and local cable television.

While pursuing his legal education, Mr. Barton traveled to Barcelona, Spain, to research Spanish constitutional law as a Fulbright Scholar. Mr. Barton served on the Board of Governors of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He is experienced in the defense of intellectual property offenses and is an expert in the complex area of driving-under-the- influence law. Mr. Barton has represented individuals arrested at political actions on issues of reproductive rights, homelessness, affirmative action, and U.S. military policies. He is fluent in the Spanish language, and has studied the legal systems in Spain and Cuba.

Ms. Ryan graduated from Cornell University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She was a Cornell National Scholar, and played defense for the varsity women's ice hockey team. She received her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1998.

At Santa Clara, Ms. Ryan interned in the Santa Clara Public Defender's office and the East San Jose Law Clinic. She participated in the Honors Moot Court Competition, and the following year she served on the Honors Moot Court Board. After graduating, she volunteered at the East Palo Alto Community Law Project, and as a mentor for the Volunteers in Parole program.

Ms. Ryan joined the firm in 2000. She is a member of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, as well as the Palo Alto Area Bar Association. She also serves as a volunteer attorney at the Community Legal Services Juvenile Justice Program in East Palo Alto. Ms. Ryan was elected to the Palo Alto Area Bar Association Board of Directors in 2005.

Diane graduated cum laude from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, in 1979. She received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City where she graduated magna cum laude, in 1986. Her honors included membership on the Moot Court Board, where she qualified as a quarter-finalist in the National Robert F. Wagner Sr. Labor Moot Court Competition. She was also selected to participate in the Cardozo Criminal Law Clinic, directed by Professor Barry Scheck, for which she received the highest rating in her class.

Upon graduating from law school, Ms. de Seve worked at the Legal Aid Society Criminal Appeals Bureau in New York City. Thereafter, she worked at a New York City law firm representing clients in a variety of complex civil and white-collar criminal defense matters involving RICO, securities, and trade secret law.

After taking a leave from the practice of law to move to California with her family and raise her children, Ms. de Seve began working at Nolan, Armstrong and Barton, LLP in the spring of 2001. Her practice includes a wide range of criminal matters in both state and federal court. She is a member of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.

Emma Bradford graduated from Trinity College, Ireland in 1999 with a B.A. in English Literature. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2004. At Hastings Ms. Bradford participated in the Jessup International Moot Court Team in which she and her partner were awarded first place in the Pacific Championships and in which she placed in the top ten best oralists in the World Championships. Ms. Bradford was also awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Environmental Law and received both the Percy C. Towne Scholarship and the Robert Blackfield Memorial Scholarship for academic excellence and leadership. While at Hastings, Ms. Bradford also served on the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly

While at Hastings Ms. Bradford clerked for both the Federal Public Defender and the San Francisco Public Defender. Ms. Bradford also coordinated the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center. Ms. Bradford joined Nolan, Armstrong & Barton in 2005. She is a member of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.

Daniel Olmos graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1999.  He was awarded a Harvard College Scholarship for academic distinction and wrote his honors thesis on providing more effective legal services to the poor.  For two years following his graduation from Harvard, Daniel taught first grade at Roosevelt Elementary School in Compton, California.

Daniel received his J.D. in 2004 from Boalt Hall School of Law at U.C. Berkeley, where he was awarded two American Jurisprudence Awards, in Modern American Legal History and Race and American Law, as well as the Moot Court Advocacy Award. He was active in the La Raza Law Students Association and served as Articles Editor and Executive Editor of the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal.

After graduating from Boalt, Daniel clerked for District Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California and Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Prior to joining Nolan, Armstrong & Barton in 2007, Daniel was a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County. He is fluent in Spanish.