Professional Background & Honors

 

Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, a Thomson Reuters Service since 2009 (Energy Law) and acheived AV Rating from Martindate-Hubbell

 

Scott Trotter earned his B.A. degree in History and French in 1974 from Presbyterian College, and his M.A. degree in International Affairs in 1975 from Florida State University.

 

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Trotter gained six years' experience in the electric utility and energy fields in the Arkansas Attorney General's office and Arkansas Department of Energy, and later as owner of an energy consulting firm. He continued energy consulting while completing his law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1986.

 

Mr. Trotter is admitted to the bar in Arkansas, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

 

For ten years, Mr. Trotter owned his law practice, including associates, with a concentration in these fields: litigation; energy and public utility regulation; collective bargaining, labor and employment law; lobbying and drafting legislation and constitutional amendments and initiated acts; election, campaign finance and ethics laws; and the initiative and referendum.

 

Since 1996, Mr. Trotter has practiced extensively in electric power regulation and the design of a competitive electric market. This has included major cases and rulemakings before the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Mr. Trotter played a principal role in planning, drafting, and presenting electric restructuring legislation to the 1999 Arkansas General Assembly. He has handled cases concerning transmission line siting, nuclear decommissioning, utility rate case proceedings, energy efficiency programs and regulations, and others. He also has provided services in the natural gas and telecommunications industries.

 

Since 1996, Mr. Trotter has served as outside regulatory counsel to Entergy Arkansas, Inc., the largest electric utility in Arkansas.  He also has represented commercial customers in major gas utility rate cases.

 

Mr. Trotter has negotiated and drafted complex business purchase contracts.

 

In the field of labor and employment law, Mr. Trotter has practiced in all areas of collective bargaining, including contract negotiations, arbitration hearings, union organizing campaigns and elections, strikes and picket line activities, NLRB investigations and hearings, state court injunction and tort litigation, federal court litigation and appellate practice, federal discrimination litigation, and others.

 

He has litigated in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas and in various federal district courts and appeared before the Fifth, Eighth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Courts of Arkansas and Louisiana.

 

Mr. Trotter has represented state agencies in Arkansas and handled a variety of commercial litigation. Also, he has served as legal counsel for and against several statewide ballot issues. This experience includes the drafting of initiated acts and constitutional amendments, state court challenges to initiative petitions prior to their ballot placement, and promoting or defeating ballot issues through legal measures and public forums.

 

Mr. Trotter is a member of the American Bar Association (Sections of State & Local Government Law; and Public Utility, Communications & Transportation Law); Arkansas Bar Association (Business; Civil Litigation; and Government Practice), and the Pulaski County Bar Association.

 

He has served as president of Ovation, a non-profit organization that promotes the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.  From 2002 through 2011 Mr. Trotter served on the board of the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation, serving as President in 2010 and 2011. 

 

Published Decisions

• Consumer Utilities Rate Advocacy Division of the Attorney General's Office v. Arkansas Public Service Commission, et al., 2004 WL 1166539 (Ark.App.), Util. L. Rep. P 26,888 (2004)

• Richard A. Perkins v. Cedar Mountain Sewer Improvement District No. 43 of Garland County, Arkansas, Supreme Court of Arkansas, No. 04-79, Opinion Delivered December 9, 2004

 

Bar Admission

Arkansas 

U.S. District Court Eastern District of Arkansas 

U.S. District Court Western District of Arkansas 

U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit

 

Affiliations

• American Bar Association; Sections: State & Local Gov't. Law; Public Utility, Communications & Transportation Law

• Arkansas Bar Association, Business, Civil Litigation, and Government Practice Sections

• Pulaski County Bar Association

• Fellow Member of the Arkansas Bar Foundation

• Past President of the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation

• Past President of Ovation, a support group for Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

 

Education

University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, Little Rock, AR, 1986, Juris Doctor 

Florida State University, 1975, Master of Arts
Major: International Affairs

Presbyterian College, 1974, Bachelor of Arts 
Major: History Major: French