N. Trey Pettlon III

Olathe, Kansas
Managing Partner
phone 913-393-2100
fax      (913) 393-0210
email  Email Me 

Our chief attorney, N. Trey Pettlon, was born in Maryville, Missouri on December 25, 1965 and grew up in Clay County. Trey graduated from North Kansas City High School in 1984. After graduating from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1988, Trey went to Washburn University School of Law where he earned a Juris Doctorate in 1991.

Trey has extensive trial experience in the area of representing clients who either suffered life-altering personal injuries or wrongful death as well as representing persons accused of committing crimes. He has represented clients in jury trials in Missouri and Kansas, and federal court. In criminal cases, he has represented clients before juries in Jackson County, Clay County, and Johnson County, Missouri; Johnson County, Kansas, Shawnee County, Wyandotte County and the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. He has won numerous "not guilty" jury verdicts for clients wrongfully charged with serious sex crimes and other felonies and misdemeanors.  He has also successfully represented numerous clients who suffered serious personal injury in jury trials in Clay County, Jackson County, Miami County and Wilson County, Kansas.  In 1997 Trey won the largest wrongful death verdict in Clay County Circuit Court.  In 2007 Trey won one of the largest jury verdicts for the year in the state of Missouri in a wrongful death case in Jackson County.  Trey's trial work was recognized by Missouri Lawyers Weekly in their "Top Verdicts" special edition that year.

Trey once defended a client being sued for millions. After over a week of jury trial, the Plaintiffs settled against Trey's client for six thousand dollars. Several of the other defendants were found liable by the jury for $12 million dollars each. The case was later featured on NBC's Dateline.

Trey frequently lectures at continuing legal education seminars for other attorneys, masters level education classes and law school classes on topics such as the Fourth Amendment, the criminal justice system and How to defend a DUI in jury trial.

Since leaving the District Attorneys Office Trey has also been appointed to serve as special prosecutor in Clay County, Missouri, where he grew up, on several occasions when the Clay County Prosecutors Office has had a conflict of interest. Trey is also sworn in and serves as a District Court Judge Pro Tem several times each year giving him a chance to see the process from every side and giving him the invaluable experience of watching other terrific trial attorneys work.

Trey has also been selected as a "Super Lawyer". Read more about the process of designating the top attorneys in Kansas and Missouri at http://www.superlawyers.com/.  Trey has earned several other prestigious nominations including "top 100 attorneys in Kansas" in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.  Trey is also very proud of the fact that he was the third-ever Lifetime Member of the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 4-7.4 (2002).

Areas of Practice:
Criminal Defense
Federal Offenses, State, Municipal
Juvenile and Adult Defense
Felonies, Misdemeanors, Traffic Violations
Aggravated Battery, Assaults
Computer Crimes, Internet Crimes
Criminal Fraud, Theft, Embezzlement
DUI/DWI
Drug Offenses, Possession, Sales, Conspiracy
Sex Offenses, Rape, Sodomy, Indecent Liberties
White Collar Crimes
Personal Injury -- Plaintiff
Wrongful Death -- Plaintiff
Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Plaintiff

Litigation Percentage:
100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation

Bar Admissions:
Missouri, 1991
Kansas, 1992
U.S. District Court for Kansas, 1994
U.S. District Court Western District of Missouri, 1994

Education:
Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, J.D. 1991
Honors: Moot Court - 1988 to 1991
Honors: Moot Court Council - Secretary - 1991
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, B.A. 1988
Major: Political Science

Published Works:

Strategies in Handling DUI Cases in Kansas, Lorman Education Services, Jury Trial Considerations, 2005

Thorough Strategies for Interviewing Your Client and the Prosecution's Witnesses", Witness Preparation And Examination for DUI Proceedings, Aspatore Books, published 2009.

Published Case: State of Kansas v. Grissom, 225 Kan. 851, 840 P.2d 1142, 1992

Classes/Seminars Taught:

How to Try a DUI Jury Trial, Lorman Education, 2005

President's Award, Johnson County Bar Association 2009

Professional Associations and Memberships:

Midwest Innocence Project - Board of Directors 2011

National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys

Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Lifetime Member

Clay County Bar Association, 2001 - Present

Johnson County Bar Association, 1991 - Present

Edgerton Municipal Court Judge, 2008 - Present

Phi Alpha Delta