From Being Called to the Bar to Preparing a Supreme Court Case, William ‘Trey’ Smith III Details Historic Moment

Trey Smith, an associate in Troutman Pepper’s Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement Practice Group, was quoted in the November 13, 2023 Antigua Observer article, “From Being Called to the Bar to Preparing a Supreme Court Case, William ‘Trey’ Smith III Details Historic Moment.”

Smith expressed that the moment was “surreal” and “humbling” to have sat before the justices and hear their deliberations on the arguments presented.

“I don’t care about rankings or anything of that sort, I think it is a big deal, a once in a career opportunity to participate in that sort of case and I am personally grateful to work with the people that I did,” he explained.

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“It wasn’t before the Supreme Court yet. It was before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—basically the last court of appeals before the Supreme Court and, for background, he had argued that case from the Board of Veterans Appeals, one of the lowest appeals processes in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“And right before the final appellant court, he asked me if I wanted to help him prepare for oral arguments because he was getting ready to appear before them,” he said.

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“It’s a cool area of practice because every day is a little different; I do a lot of work for an energy company, just helping to get their infrastructure projects approved by the state, I do a fair amount of litigation at the state level and the lower federal court—typically against government agencies, state attorneys and federal agencies.

“It is seeping into a lot of cutting-edge areas of technology, law and business, and it happens in a way that sometimes there is no clear law on the point,” he explained.

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“There might be a new regulation coming out and they want us to advise them on how to handle it, so we give them advice on how to make sure that their products conform with the law which is interesting and fun because you are helping to put the measures in place so that they can have a successful rollout,” he added.

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“It is not one I really have the answer to; I really enjoy what I do and when I no longer enjoy it or when something changes, then that will be the decision to be made at the time.

“What I do like about my practice area and my firm is that I participate in so many types of matters, it allows me to keep my curiosity satisfied and intellectually stimulated, so it really is taking it day by day,” he said.