Attorney Profiles

N. Trey Pettlon III

Olathe, Kansas
Managing Partner
phone (913) 712-9132
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. He has defended clients to juries in Jackson County, Clay County, and Johnson County, Missouri; Johnson County, Kansas, Shawnee County and the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. He has won numerous "not guilty" jury verdicts for clients charged with serious crimes. He has represented clients in important personal injury cases in jury trial 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 Jackson County and in the state of Missouri.

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 prosecutors office 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 and 2009. 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:: 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

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; The 4th Amendment and DUI Defense, Lorman Education, 2005; Juvenile Law, Johnson County Juvenile Court Services, 1992 - 2005; Defending a Criminal Case in Johnson County, Border's Book Store, 2001; Juvenile Law, Ottawa University, 1995 - 2006
Honors and Awards:: Argued Before Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the final round of the Prince Evidence Competition in Manhattan, New York, 1990
Professional Associations and Memberships:: National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys
Past Employment Positions:: Edgerton Municipal Court Judge, 2008 - Present; Johnson County District Attorneys Office, Assistant District Attorney, 1991 - 1994; Shawnee County District Attorney's Office, Internship, 1990 - 1991; Washburn Law Library, Clerk, 1989 - 1990
Pro Bono Activities:: Civil Rights Case - Fair Housing, 2005; Indigent Defense for Adults and Juveniles - Select Cases, 1994 - Present


Fraternities/Sororities:: Phi Alpha Delta