'It was a big deal': Portsmouth's William Trezvant named associate judge in RI District Court
PORTSMOUTH — There isn't one case in particular William Trezvant worked during his time at the state Office of the Attorney General that inspired him, rather it was a multitude of cases he helped oversee in adult drug court.
"I got the opportunity to really help a lot of people in giving them the tools to be successful in beating their addictions ... I found that to be very worthwhile," he said in a phone conversation with The Daily News.
Last week, the Portsmouth resident and 1987 Portsmouth High School graduate was sworn in as an associate justice of the District Court in Rhode Island. Trezvant one of only a handful of Black judges throughout the state.
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"It was a big deal. I can't describe how happy and thankful I am to finally reach this opportunity, and I look forward to the challenges and seeing what I can do," he said.
While in high school, Trezvant was on the basketball and track teams and became an Eagle Scout. He attended the University of Rhode Island, where he was chair of the student conduct board for three years and also a member of student senate.
After graduating from the URI, he attended law school at The College of William and Mary, from which earned his degree in 1994. After passing the Connecticut Bar Exam, began is law career at Foxwoods Casino.
"Then I came back to Rhode Island," he said.
After passing the Rhode Island in 2000, Trezvant went to work for the state Office of the Attorney General, where he was a special assistant. "It was a big job," he said.
Some of the first cases he worked were misdemeanor trials, civil trials and bail hearings.
"I have learned a lot about people," he said. "People come in all shapes and sizes, and all different situations. One thing I learned especially handling those types of situations is to try to listen to people and try to be respectful of people and their individual situations. And try to do the right thing."
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During his time at the Office of the Attorney General, Trezvant said he also learned a lot about himself.
"I learned how to work on my particular skills on how to be a good public speaker. I learned about really digging into a case, and I really learned that I really enjoyed helping people," he said. "That was probably the most gratifying thing. I found myself in the middle of a lot of things, and I had an opportunity to help people."
Working at the Office of the Attorney General, Trezvant said, was a good experience.
"It was a lot of work, but you get the opportunity to interact with a lot of the different defense attorneys and judges and what have you, so it was a really good experience for me," he said.
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Trezvant said growing up as a person of color in Portsmouth taught him how to see things from all different sides.
"I used that to kind of build upon that experience, and try to get to know people. I've always tried to use that as a learning experience," he said.
Bethany Brunelle-Raja can be reached at bbrunelle@newportri.com 575-644-1223 or @bethanyfreuden1 on Twitter, Insta: bethanyfreudenthal, TikTok: becomingmrsraja, Muckrack: https://muckrack.com/bethany-freudenthal
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: RI District Court: Portsmouth's Trezvant sworn in as associate jduge
