Nova Law Group is a Maricopa County criminal defense firm. We represent people who have been arrested, charged, or told they are under investigation in Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale, Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Peoria, Surprise, and the justice courts and city courts across the county.
Most people who find this page did not plan to need a lawyer. Something happened, and now there is a court date, a police report, and a lot of uncertainty about what comes next. The purpose of this page is to tell you who we are and how we work, so you can decide whether to pick up the phone.
Nova Law Group was previously known as Tait & Hall. If you were referred to us under that name, or you found a review that mentions it, you are in the right place. The name changed. The lawyers, the courtrooms, and the way we handle cases did not.
Roughly two percent of criminal cases in Arizona end in a trial verdict. That statistic gets used to argue that trial skill does not matter much. We think it proves the opposite.
The value of a plea offer is set by what the prosecutor believes will happen if the case does not settle. A file handled by a lawyer who has picked juries, cross-examined officers, and litigated suppression motions gets priced differently than a file handled by someone the prosecutor knows will never take it that far. Preparing a case as though it is going to trial is not posturing. It is the mechanism that produces a better outcome, whether or not you ever see a jury.
That is also why we do not treat the first offer as the answer. Suppression issues, disclosure failures, problems with how evidence was collected, questions about the stop or the search — those get litigated before anyone talks about a resolution.
Criminal defense is the core of the practice. Within that we handle DUI and extreme DUI, drug charges, domestic violence, assault and aggravated assault, theft and shoplifting, disorderly conduct and criminal damage, white collar allegations, sex offenses, homicide, federal charges, probation violations, and serious traffic and MVD matters.
We also take on orders of protection and injunctions against harassment, professional license defense for people whose careers are exposed by a criminal allegation, and breach of contract litigation.
We do not do family law, and we do not take cases outside Maricopa County. Knowing the courts, the prosecutors, and the local practices in one county well is worth more to a client than being spread thin across fifteen.
The consultation is free and confidential, and it is a real conversation with a lawyer rather than a screening call with an intake clerk.
You will be asked what happened, what you have been told so far, whether you have a court date, and whether anyone has tried to interview you. You will get a straight read on what the charge means, what the realistic range of outcomes looks like, what the process will involve, and what it costs. If we think you do not need a lawyer, we will say so. If we think your situation is outside what we do well, we will say that too.
Nothing you say in that conversation obligates you to hire us, and it stays confidential whether you do or not.
Arizona has capable public defenders, and some of the best trial lawyers in this state have spent their careers in that office. The difficulty is structural, not personal. A public defender in a busy county can be carrying well over a hundred open files at once. That caseload limits how much time any single case can get, no matter how good the lawyer is.
The other thing worth understanding is that high-volume private firms can produce a similar experience for a different reason. If a firm is built to move a large number of files quickly, the incentive runs toward resolving cases rather than litigating them, and a client can end up feeling like a case number in a place they are paying for.
The question to ask any lawyer you interview is simple: how many cases are you carrying, who will actually appear at my hearings, and when did you last take a case of this type to trial.
If you are trying to understand the process before you commit to hiring anyone, we wrote three guides that explain it without a sales pitch: what happens after an arrest, diversion programs that can get a case dismissed outright, and record sealing and set-asides.
Two things are worth knowing right now, whoever you hire. Do not talk to police about the allegation without a lawyer present, and do not discuss the case over a jail phone line, because those calls are recorded and prosecutors listen to them.
Call (480) 405-6767 or request a confidential consultation. If you have a court date coming up, say so when you reach us so we can prioritize the call.
Nothing on this page is a promise or guarantee about the outcome of any case. Every case turns on its own facts, and past results do not predict future outcomes. Reading this page or contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Nova Law Group is here to help you with your legal questions. Consultations are free.