NovaStar Law Partners

At NovaStar your time with us is very important, we will do our best to go above and beyond your expectations.

About Us

NovaStar Law Partners is a criminal defense firm founded by Starla Nicholson at the end of 2024. In 2026, we're expanding a new branch in the State of San Andreas, and we're just getting started. NovaStar is not, and has never been, your average law firm. Our firm is built on many years of experience and expertise, and a very strong moral compass.

Disclaimer: NovaStar Law does not, and will never, use Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any capacity. This includes, but is not limited to, creating advertisements, drafting case documents, researching case law, or any other variety of drafting/researching/legal guidance. Per our staff policies, the use of Generative AI is grounds for immediate termination from the firm.

Meet the Staff

Meet NovaStar's Expert Legal Staff!

Starla Nicholson - Founder

Starla Nicholson is the founder and leader of Novastar Law Partners with a dozen years of experience in cities across the country. She's dedicated her life to working in law enforcement and in the judicial system, varying from prosecuting people for their crimes, running her own private defense firms, and even spent a few years as an elected Judge.
Starla is incredibly familiar with the legal system, but her knowledge doesn't end at the criminal court side of things as she has also handled plenty of civil-based cases and contract law.
In her very low free time, she spends her days walking in nature with her fiancé and love of her life, Max Holliday.

Max Holliday - Founder & Legal Assistant

Max Holliday's history is full of experience in the emergency services realm, both as law enforcement and as medical staff. Max has worked most of his life in law enforcement high command and in the IAA / FIB branch of it, allowing for a deep understanding of the LEO side of things.Starla drags him into the office every now and again to help with the daunting paperwork that is always piling up. (Not that he's complaining, he'd do anything for her and everyone knows it).

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Will you help me sue the police?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: These cases require a tremendous amount of resources, and often times are brought up when individuals are upset and in the heat of the moment when arrests are made. In the event you do have the evidence (not just word-of-mouth) in order to support your claims, please reach out to our firm via the proper channels to set up a consultation.2. Can you get all of these charges dropped?
Short answer: Not likely.
Long answer: Here's the issue with that, we don't have a proper judiciary in this state yet, so we can't move towards a bench trial or a jury trial to prove you're innocent (or just.. enough doubt you didn't do it), so as an acting-lawyer, it's our job to try and see if they'll lower charges so it's not as bad (class wise, or time/fine sentence). This is something we'll readdress when there's actual avenues for us to take.
However, our attorneys have years of practice experience in court rooms, so we will consider every and all options, if we do see ways for the charges to be considered null, we will try to utilize it.3. What is the cost for hiring your firm?
Short answer: It will vary.
Long answer: No two cases are the same, so we really cannot ballpark any specifics for you. Cell representation cases will typically be around the same amount. This is per client and not per incident leading to arrest.
Example: So if we were to say $500 for a cell representation call, it is $500 per client, not $500 to represent and negotiate for all parties involved since there's a good chance that everyone had a different responsibility in the arrest, and may be facing different charges.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Disclaimer: NovaStar Law does not, and will never, use Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any capacity. This includes, but is not limited to, creating advertisements, drafting case documents, researching case law, or any other variety of drafting/researching/legal guidance. Per our staff policies, the use of Generative AI is grounds for immediate termination from the firm.

Services

Criminal Defense Services✓ Cell Representation & Charge Negotiations
If you have been arrested or detained, an attorney can meet with you in holding, explain the charges against you, protect your rights, and speak on your behalf. When appropriate, we may negotiate with the Department of Justice for reduced charges, fines, or sentencing. Although no attorney can guarantee that charges will be dismissed or reduced, we will fight for the best reasonable outcome based on the facts of your case.✓ Police Interviews & Questioning
You have the right to request an attorney before answering questions that could be used against you. We can attend interviews, advise you on whether to answer particular questions, and help prevent you from making statements without understanding the possible consequences.✓ Bail & Pretrial Release
When bail or pretrial release is available, we can advocate for your release while your case is pending. This may include requesting a reasonable bail amount or presenting reasons why you can safely return to the community before trial.✓ Criminal Trial Representation
If your case proceeds to trial, we can review the evidence, question witnesses, challenge improper or unreliable evidence, present a defense, and argue your case before the court.✓ Warrant Review & Resolution
If you believe there may be an active warrant for your arrest, we can review the circumstances and help you address it properly. Depending on the case, this may include arranging a voluntary surrender, requesting a warrant hearing, or asking the court to recall or resolve the warrant.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Civil Case Services✓ Contract Drafting & Review
Before you sign an agreement, we can review its terms, explain your rights and responsibilities, identify possible concerns, and recommend changes. We can also prepare written contracts designed to protect everyone involved and reduce the risk of future disputes.✓ Contract Disputes
If another person or business fails to follow an agreement, we can help determine whether the contract was breached and what options may be available. This can include negotiating a resolution, requesting payment or performance, or pursuing the matter in court.✓ Civil Claims & Lawsuits
Civil claims involve disputes between individuals, businesses, or organizations rather than criminal charges. We can assist clients who want to file a claim or defend themselves against one, including reviewing evidence, preparing court filings, negotiating settlements, and providing courtroom representation.✓ Demand Letters & Settlement Negotiations
Not every disagreement needs to become a lawsuit. We can send a formal demand on your behalf and negotiate with the opposing party in an effort to resolve the dispute before court proceedings become necessary.✓ Harassment & Personal Safety Matters
If you are experiencing repeated harassment, threats, stalking, or unwanted contact, we can explain the legal protections that may be available and assist with the appropriate filings. We can also represent individuals responding to claims made against them.✓ Business & Organizational Matters
We can assist businesses and organizations with contracts, internal agreements, liability concerns, employment-related documents, and other legal issues that may arise during daily operations.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Appeals & Record Relief✓ Criminal Appeals
An appeal asks a higher court to review whether a legal error affected the outcome of a case. An appeal is not a new trial and does not automatically overturn a conviction. Our attorneys can review the record, identify possible grounds for appeal, prepare the required filings, and present the legal argument to the court.✓ Expungements & Record Sealing
Eligible individuals may be able to have certain criminal records cleared, sealed, or otherwise restricted from public view. We can review your record, determine whether you qualify, prepare the necessary paperwork, and represent you throughout the process.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━General Legal Support✓ Legal Consultations
Not sure what kind of assistance you need? During a consultation, an attorney can listen to your situation, review any available documents, explain your options, and help you determine the most appropriate next step.✓ Document Preparation & Review
Legal paperwork can be difficult to understand and mistakes may have serious consequences. We can assist with preparing, reviewing, and explaining legal documents before they are signed or submitted.✓ Courtroom Representation
Whether your matter is criminal or civil, our attorneys can appear with you in court, present legal arguments, respond to the opposing party, and ensure that your position is clearly represented.The availability of any service depends on the facts of the case, applicable law, attorney availability, and possible conflicts of interest. Prior results do not guarantee a particular outcome in any future matter.

Fee Assistance Programs

Novastar Access Initiative (NAI)
Novastar Law Partners was founded on the belief that everyone deserves access to quality legal counsel and support, regardless of their financial circumstances. The Novastar Access Initiative provides free or reduced-fee legal representation to qualifying individuals.For those who do not qualify for free representation, flexible payment arrangements may be available to help make the cost of legal services more manageable. Eligibility and payment options are determined based on financial need, the nature and complexity of the case, and the firm’s current capacity.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Second Chance Project
The Second Chance Project provides free or reduced-fee legal assistance for individuals who are seeking a fresh start in their journey. Services may include appeals, expungements, record sealing, and other restoration-focused matters.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Novastar Civil Advocacy Program
The Novastar Civil Advocacy Program provides free or reduced-fee assistance with qualifying civil matters, including contracts, harassment claims, civil litigation.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Program Eligibility and Application Requirements:
Providing quality legal representation requires a substantial commitment of time and resources from our attorneys and staff. To ensure that Novastar can continue serving our clients effectively, free and reduced-fee representation is limited and cannot be guaranteed for every case.Applicants will be required to submit documentation demonstrating their eligibility. A signed Release of Information may also be required so Novastar can verify the information provided with relevant agencies or organizations, including real estate offices, law enforcement agencies, and other government entities.Please speak with a Novastar attorney for a complete list of application requirements and required documentation. Approval is based on financial eligibility, the nature and complexity of the case, and the firm’s current capacity.

Contact Us

Firm Contacts
Email Thread - Or click button below━━━━
Staff
Starla Nicholson ~ Founder - (205) 230-7369
Max Holliday ~ Founder & Legal Assistant - (602) 377-2495

Client Portal Forms

Select a client form

Choose an available form from the directory. Complete and submit it here.

(function () { function initialize() { const root = document.getElementById("novastar-clients"); if (!root || root.dataset.initialized === "true") return; root.dataset.initialized = "true"; const forms = [ { title: "Authorization for Release of Information", description: "Authorize information sharing with the parties specified in the form.", keywords: "roi consent permission records disclosure", url: "https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbbrkaXgI5LMWACdRtQjHo0EiAkPo4ifeMK8o3L53vzU1aCw/viewform?embedded=true" }, { title: "New Client Intake", description: "Tell us about your situation and the legal assistance you need.", keywords: "representation new client criminal civil case" }, { title: "Consultation Request", description: "Request an appointment to discuss your legal options.", keywords: "meeting appointment advice attorney" }, { title: "Novastar Access Initiative Application", description: "Apply for general free or reduced-fee representation.", keywords: "nai financial assistance pro bono low cost" }, { title: "Second Chance Project Application", description: "Request financial assistance for eligible restoration-focused matters.", keywords: "expungement appeal sealing record restoration" }, { title: "Civil Advocacy Program Application", description: "Apply for assistance with qualifying civil matters.", keywords: "financial civil lawsuit contract harassment" }, { title: "Payment Arrangement Request", description: "Request a payment plan for your legal fees.", keywords: "billing invoice installments payment financial" }, { title: "Client Information Update", description: "Update your contact information or other client details.", keywords: "phone address discord name contact" }, { title: "Case Update Submission", description: "Notify your attorney of new developments, deadlines, or hearings.", keywords: "court date charges warrant evidence changes" }, { title: "Witness Information & Statement", description: "Provide witness contact details and an account of relevant events.", keywords: "testimony witness incident statement" }, { title: "Client Feedback & Concerns", description: "Share feedback or raise a concern about your experience with Novastar.", keywords: "complaint review feedback service" } ]; const search = root.querySelector("#nc-search"); const list = root.querySelector("#nc-list"); const count = root.querySelector("#nc-count"); const placeholder = root.querySelector("#nc-placeholder"); const viewer = root.querySelector("#nc-viewer"); const heading = root.querySelector("#nc-heading"); const frame = root.querySelector("#nc-frame"); const external = root.querySelector("#nc-external"); const close = root.querySelector("#nc-close"); let activeUrl = ""; function normalize(text) { return text.toLowerCase().replace(/[^a-z0-9]+/g, " ").trim(); } function openForm(form) { if (activeUrl === form.url) return; if ( activeUrl && !confirm("Switch forms? Unsubmitted answers may be lost.") ) return; activeUrl = form.url; heading.textContent = form.title; frame.title = form.title; frame.src = form.url; external.href = form.url.replace("?embedded=true", ""); placeholder.hidden = true; viewer.hidden = false; render(); if (window.matchMedia("(max-width: 850px)").matches) { viewer.scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth", block: "start" }); } heading.focus({ preventScroll: true }); } function render() { const words = normalize(search.value).split(" ").filter(Boolean); const matches = forms.filter(function (form) { const text = normalize( form.title + " " + form.description + " " + form.keywords ); return words.every(function (word) { return text.includes(word); }); }); const previousScroll = list.scrollTop; list.replaceChildren(); count.textContent = matches.length ? matches.length + (matches.length === 1 ? " form found" : " forms found") : "No matching forms. Try another keyword."; matches.forEach(function (form) { const card = document.createElement(form.url ? "button" : "div"); card.className = "nc-card"; const title = document.createElement("span"); title.className = "nc-title"; title.textContent = form.title; const description = document.createElement("span"); description.className = "nc-description"; description.textContent = form.description; const badge = document.createElement("span"); badge.className = "nc-badge" + (form.url ? " nc-ready" : ""); badge.textContent = form.url ? (form.url === activeUrl ? "Currently open" : "Available — Open Form") : "Coming Soon"; card.append(title, description, badge); if (form.url) { card.type = "button"; card.setAttribute("aria-pressed", String(form.url === activeUrl)); card.addEventListener("click", function () { openForm(form); }); } list.appendChild(card); }); list.scrollTop = previousScroll; } search.addEventListener("input", function () { render(); list.scrollTop = 0; }); close.addEventListener("click", function () { if (!confirm("Close this form? Unsubmitted answers may be lost.")) return; activeUrl = ""; frame.removeAttribute("src"); external.removeAttribute("href"); viewer.hidden = true; placeholder.hidden = false; render(); search.focus(); }); render(); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initialize); } else { initialize(); } })();