MEET STEPHANIE M. NOEL

Attorney Stephanie M. Noel is a criminal defense lawyer and focuses her practice exclusively in the areas of appellate and post-conviction litigation.

Prior to forming The Law Offices of Stephanie M. Noel, Stephanie was recruited by a well-respected, boutique criminal defense firm in Pittsburgh.  There, she began building the firm’s burgeoning appellate and post-conviction practice and established a specialization in the most complex and serious cases, such as those involving criminal homicide and sex offenses.  Stephanie also gained valuable experience representing clients charged in federal court for their alleged participation in large-scale drug trafficking conspiracies; violation of federal firearms laws; possession, distribution and production of child pornography; and theft of government funds.  As a result of Stephanie's zealous written sentencing advocacy, her firm's clients routinely received sentences well below the guidelines promulgated by the United States Sentencing Commission.  In one case, Stephanie was instrumental in convincing a sentencing court that her client was eligible for relief from a draconian mandatory minimum sentencing provision.  In another case, Stephanie persuaded the United States government not to prosecute her client and, instead, to permit his participation in a pretrial diversion program which resulted in no criminal conviction.

Before that, Stephanie proudly served for over five years as an assistant public defender at the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender.  As a public defender, Stephanie gained a wide variety of experience in three of the office’s four divisions - pre-trial, trial and appeals.  She provided representation in cases at both the trial and appellate court levels ranging in seriousness from disorderly conduct to criminal homicide.

Stephanie has always been devoted to her clients' success and has earned a reputation for helping them achieve their desired outcomes.  In the very first appeal she handled, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania awarded Stephanie’s client a new trial in a published Opinion.  That Opinion had an instantaneous effect on Pennsylvania’s Rape Shield Law, and immediately benefitted criminal defendants statewide.  Stephanie represented her client at the re-trial, where she won a full acquittal.  Likewise, in the first post-conviction matter she handled, Stephanie successfully proved that her client's trial attorneys provided ineffective assistance of counsel due to numerous and almost unthinkable errors and omissions.  Stephanie's client was awarded a new trial and was immediately released from state prison.

But Stephanie did not just enjoy “beginner’s luck.”  Because of an unending dedication to her clients and to her craft, Stephanie has amassed an impressive record of appellate and post-conviction victories over the years.  Stephanie has handled cases on direct appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania resulting in numerous published and unpublished wins. Stephanie has also had the distinct honor of representing clients before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which only accepts non-capital direct appeals on a discretionary basis. Statewide, this discretionary docket consists of approximately 30 criminal cases per year.  In a single year, two of those cases were accepted on Stephanie’s petition.

As a result of Stephanie’s efforts, her clients have been awarded new trials, received reductions in their sentences, granted reinstatement of important rights, and earned outright reversals of their criminal convictions. Stephanie’s wins on direct appeal have encompassed significant procedural and constitutional issues concerning Pennsylvania’s Rape Shield Law, the First Amendment, speedy trial, double jeopardy, judicial recusal, discretionary aspects of sentencing, erroneous jury instructions, restitution, the constitutional right to present a defense, illegal sentencing, and the appropriate scope of expert testimony.  In the post-conviction context, Stephanie has won new trials for clients convicted of murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault.

Perhaps most significantly, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in a unanimous Opinion, ordered a new trial for Stephanie’s client who had previously been convicted of rape and sentenced to serve 27 to 60 years in prison.  On appeal, Stephanie convincingly argued that her client's conviction resulted from the improper admission of expert testimony.  Stephanie further argued that such expert testimony was designed to (and did) bolster the credibility of the accuser and, therefore, invaded the province of the jury as sole arbiter of credibility.  The Supreme Court agreed and reversed her client's conviction.

Stephanie is especially sensitive to the fact that, by the time her clients are in need of her representation, they likely have already suffered an adverse and sometimes devastating result in their criminal case. Recognizing this, Stephanie works diligently and tirelessly to achieve the correction of any errors which may have contributed to her clients’ criminal convictions and sentences.

Stephanie received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a Master of Arts from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and a Juris Doctor from the Duquesne University School of Law. Stephanie is admitted to practice law in every court within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Stephanie is an active member of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Criminal Litigation Section, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She has authored a number of articles for PACDL’s quarterly publication, For the Defense, and participated on the planning committee for PACDL’s 2023 Joint Annual Conference.  Stephanie is also a founding member of the Allegheny Lawyers Initiative for Justice, a non-profit organization committed to reforming Allegheny County’s criminal legal system.