Charles H. "Trey" Smith
III, the son of a well-known, retired judge, grew up
with people expecting him to follow his father into
law. Smith actually wanted to be a veterinarian, he
says.
Life, however, takes odds twists
before some people settle on their life's work. Smith,
in fact, is now a lawyer with Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore in Roanoke
where he has built a solid reputation for his work in
transportation law. In recent years, his practice has
shifted from defending the large transportation carriers
that own and operate the fleets of 18-wheelers that crisscross
America's highways, to handling more product and medical
liability cases. "I got into law, like I believe
a lot of people do, to do something that helps people.
I feel that's what I'm doing," he says.
In college, however, Smith had
crossed law school off his list. His father, Charles
H. Smith Jr., was a circuit court judge in Abingdon. "I love and respect my
dad," the younger Smith explains. "But I grew
up around the legal life, and I just didn't want to do
it at first because it was kind of expected of me."
When he graduated from the University
of Virginia with a degree in chemistry, "I was headed for vet school.
I had a job working at the Charlottesville Animal Hospital.
It was one of the most rewarding things I ever did. You
don't ever hear any veterinarian jokes, now, do you?" Smith
says with a laugh.
But Smith's veterinarian mentors advised him to take
a year off before committing himself to vet school. He
moved to Colorado to ski the slopes of the Copper Mountains
while supporting himself waiting tables and tending bar.
During that year, Smith had second
thoughts about law school. He took the LSAT (the law
school entrance exam) and scored higher than he expected.
He sent his application to the Marshall-Wythe School
of Law at William & Mary
just before deadline. "I remember FedExing it to
them overnight," he says.
Once he made the commitment to
law school, his natural aptitude for the profession
became apparent. He clerked for Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore in his second year
of school law, and when he graduated in 1991, he had
a position waiting for him there. "I really hit
it off with the people here," he says. "It
was the personalities of the lawyers here that really
made me want to stay with this firm."
Smith's reputation in transportation law grew out of
his insurance defense work. He represented large transport
carrier corporations whose vehicles travel the busy and
often hazardous Interstate 81 corridor. As a major artery
of commerce for the East Coast, I-81 handles substantial
traffic every year. For example, in 2003, during an 18-month
period, there were 825 accidents involving commercial
trucks that resulted in 449 injuries and 15 deaths.
The number of accidents requiring
litigation in the area led Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore to develop a
transportation focus within its practice. Smith helped
in its creation. "There was enough work to keep
three attorneys busy," he says.
But after years of representing
companies, Smith gravitated toward handling transportation
cases from the plaintiff's side. That has also led
to an increased number of liability cases in other
areas as well. "The reasons I decided
to do more plaintiff work after 10 years has to do mostly
with the bureaucratic nature of the work representing
the carriers," he says. "Plus I've always
kind of pulled for the underdog."
One of Smith's liability cases involved Sean Hughes,
a resident of a mental retardation center in Southwest
Virginia. He died 18 days of pneumonia after being admitted
to the center.
Smith represented Shannon Payne,
Hughes' sister, in a lawsuit against the state alleging
negliegence. "It
was eventually settled [in mediation]," Smith says, "but
not until after a long fight in which the commonwealth
claimed that it had immunity for the claims being made
on Sean's behalf. It was a struggle, but the family ultimately
prevailed."
Smith has been married since 1999. He and his wife,
Lisa, have two young children, with a third child on
the way.
Smith's colleagues say he is
an excellent lawyer with a natural talent for his profession. "Trey has a
way of dealing with people," says fellow lawyer
Drew Davis. "No pretense, no arrogance. He's as
straight as an arrow. Whatever he says, you can take
it to the bank. He is well respected by the bar and the
judiciary."
