About

Stephanie M. Noel focuses her practice in the areas of appellate and post-conviction litigation.Prior to joining Difenderfer, Rothman & Haber, Stephanie proudly served for over five years as an Assistant Public Defender at the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender. There, she gained a wide variety of experience in three of the office’s four divisions - pre-trial, trial and appeals.Stephanie has provided representation in cases at both the trial and appellate court levels ranging in seriousness from disorderly conduct to criminal homicide. She has successfully handled numerous cases on direct appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania resulting in several published and unpublished wins.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 2019, 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, been granted reinstatement of important rights, and earned outright reversals of their criminal convictions. Stephanie’s successes 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, restitution, and the right to present a defense. In the post-conviction context, Stephanie has raised successful claims of ineffective assistance of counsel resulting in relief in the form of a new trial.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 result in their criminal case. In recognition of 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 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.

Practices Areas

Criminal Defense

Language

English

Contact

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