Trevor S. Cox

Trevor is a former Acting Solicitor General of Virginia and a litigation partner in the firm’s Issues and Appeals practice. He is co-head of the firm’s State Attorneys General practice and also helps lead the firm’s Plastics and Microplastics practice.

Trevor represents private and public clients in state and federal appellate courts on a wide variety of matters, frequently on issues of constitutional law. In addition to appellate litigation, Trevor handles dispositive briefing in trial courts, files amicus briefs in the US Supreme Court, Fourth Circuit, and district courts, and counsels clients on legal trends and strategy. He is admitted in the following federal courts: the Supreme Court of the United States; the US Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and DC Circuits; and the US District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia. He has argued in the US Supreme Court and a dozen times in the Fourth Circuit (including en banc).

• Stinnie v. Holcomb, 37 F.4th 977, 979 (4th Cir. 2022) (plaintiffs obtaining a limited preliminary injunction but not a final judgment on the merits before voluntarily dismissing case as moot are not prevailing parties entitled to attorney fees under Section 1988), rev’d, 77 F.4th 200 (4th Cir. 2023) (en banc), cert. granted sub nom. Lackey v. Stinnie, No. 23-621, 2024 WL 1706013 (U.S. Apr. 22, 2024).
• Wallis v. Nat'l Rural Utilities Coop. Fin. Corp., No. 23-1487, 2024 WL 1554757 (4th Cir. Apr. 10, 2024) (per curiam) (finding no reversible error in grant of summary judgment to defendant).
• Inhance Techs., L.L.C. v. United States Envtl. Prot. Agency, 96 F.4th 888 (5th Cir. 2024) (as argued by coalition of amici, concluding that EPA exceeded its statutory authority in interpreting “significant new use” under the Toxic Substances Control Act).
• Reyes v. Waples Mobile Home Park Limited P’ship, 91 F.4th 270 (4th Cir. 2024) (reversing grant of summary judgment to defendants because, as argued by amicus, possibility that defendants could be prosecuted under federal anti-harboring statute was too attenuated to bar residents’ FHA claim).
• In re Michael J. Muhammad, et al., No. 230140 (Va. Aug. 21, 2023) (denying petition for writs of mandamus and petition contesting Virginia circuit court judge’s denial of complaint seeking a special grand jury to investigate a local Commonwealth’s attorney).
• Cotzomi v. Universal Protection Serv., No. A164301, 2023 WL 2592387 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 22, 2023) (reversing denial of motion to compel arbitration where court erroneously declined to consider the circumstantial value of evidence indicating that plaintiff executed arbitration agreement).
• Stone v. U.S. Sec. Assocs., No. B318986, 2023 WL 2494093 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 14, 2023) (affirming grant of summary adjudication on grounds that class representative and his individual and class claims were barred by the statute of limitations and statute of repose governing FCRA claims).
• Ruan v. United States, 597 U.S. 450 (2022) (as urged by amicus, adopting heightened threshold for liability under the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act: the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly or intentionally acted in an unauthorized manner).
• In re Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, No. 211156 (Va. May 3, 2022) (denying petition for writ of prohibition seeking to prevent Virginia circuit court judge from taking action with respect to Civil War monument located on property near circuit courthouse).

• Palmer v. Amazon.com, Inc., 51 F.4th 491 (2d Cir. 2022) (affirming dismissal of public nuisance claim challenging COVID-19 policy where, as argued by amicus, plaintiffs failed to allege special injury under New York law).

• Davies v. S.A. Dunn & Co., LLC, 200 A.D.3d 8 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. App. Div. 2021) (reversing order denying dismissal of public nuisance claim because, as argued by amicus, plaintiffs failed to assert a special injury).

• Allen v. Cooper, 140 S. Ct. 994 (2020) (as urged by amici, holding that Congress lacked authority to abrogate the States’ immunity from copyright infringement suits).

• Grimm v. Gloucester Cty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir. 2020) (affirming grant of summary judgment on constitutional claims brought by transgender high school student, as supported by amici group of Virginia school boards), cert. denied, 141 S. Ct. 2878, 210 L. Ed. 2d 977 (2021).

• Collins v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 584 U.S. 586 (2018) (automobile exception to warrant requirement does not apply within a home’s curtilage).

• Brat v. Personhuballah, 883 F.3d 475 (4th Cir. 2018) (Virginia not responsible for plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees incurred in litigating against intervening defendants).

• Stinnie v. Holcomb, 734 F. App’x 858 (4th Cir. 2018) (dismissing for lack of jurisdiction challenge to Virginia Code § 46.2-395).

• DePaola v. Va. Dep’t of Corr., 703 F. App’x 205 (4th Cir. 2017) (rejecting constitutional challenge to Department of Corrections policy of housing dangerous and disruptive inmates in restrictive conditions).

• Cashion v. Lee, No. 5:17-cv-00004-MFU, 2017 WL 5179238 (W.D. Va. Nov. 8, 2017) (dismissing claim that Virginia Code § 8.01-243.2 violates US Constitution).

• Shin v. Commonwealth, 294 Va. 517, 808 S.E.2d 401 (Va. 2017) (rejecting constitutional challenges to Virginia’s implied-consent law).

• Vista-Graphics, Inc. v. Va. Dep’t of Transp., 682 F. App’x 231 (4th Cir. 2017) (per curiam) (upholding against constitutional challenge VDOT’s tourism-literature program at highway rest areas).

• Hoye v. Gilmore, 691 F. App’x 764 (4th Cir. 2017) (rejecting inmate’s First Amendment retaliation claim).

• Canales v. Orellana, 67 Va. App. 759 (2017) (en banc) (in course of making custody determinations, Virginia courts have jurisdiction to make findings of fact that may be used to support applications for Special Immigrant Juvenile status under federal law).

• Pleasant v. Commonwealth, No. CL16-825 (Va. Cir. Ct (Suffolk) Aug. 9, 2017) (quashing subpoena duces tecum and witness subpoena directed at Secretary of the Commonwealth).

• Tomikel v. Virginia, 577 U.S. 1010 (2015) (mem.) (denying certiorari in case raising Confrontation Clause claims).

• Marron v. Miller, 576 U.S. 1057 (2015) (mem.) (denying certiorari in case raising claims under RLUIPA and First, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments).

• In re Steven Roy Arnold, Record No. 131447 (Va. argued Jan. 4, 2015) (decided under companion case, In re Robert Floyd Brown, 289 Va. 343, 770 S.E.2d 494 (Va. 2015)) (agreeing with Attorney General’s amicus position that transgender inmate had presented statutorily required “good cause” in support of name-change application).

• Elected to Boyd-Graves Conference, 2024
• Received E. Randolph Williams Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service for 2012-13, 2019-23 fiscal years
• Named among the Legal Elite for Appellate Law, Virginia Business magazine, 2017-2023
• Recognized as one of two “Rising Stars” in Securities Litigation, Virginia Super Lawyers magazine, 2013

• Harvard Alumni Association: Board of Directors, Member ex officio (2024–present)
• American Civil War Museum: Board of Directors (2024–present)
• Boyd-Graves Conference: Member (2024–present)
• Pauley Heart Center, VCU Health System: Advisory Board Member (2023–present)
• Harvard-Cambridge Scholarships: Selection Committee Chair (2023–present)
• John Marshall Center at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture: Advisory Board Member (2023–present)
• 1971 Virginia Constitution Commemoration Steering Committee: Chair (2021)
• VBA Appellate Practice Section: Council Member (2017–present)
• John Marshall Inn of Court: Member (2017–present)
• Harvard Law School Association: Executive Committee (2018–2024), Treasurer (2022–2024), Senior Advisory Council (2024–present)
• Harvard Club of Virginia: Officer (2014–2019), Vice-President (2019-2024), Schools Committee Chair (2019–present), President (2024–present)
• James Branch Cabell Library Associates: Board Member (2014–present), Vice-President (2018–2024), President (2024–present)
• John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics: Board member (2020–2023), Treasurer (2022–2023)
• St. James’s Episcopal Church: Vestry member (2020–2023)
• Richmond Public Library Foundation: Board member (2010–2023), President (2018–2021)
• Friends of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries: Board member (2016–2021)
• VCU Honors College: Dean’s Council member (2016–2020)
• Historic Richmond: Junior Board member (2010–2017), President (2016)
• American Civil War Museum: Tredegar Society (2012–2016), President (2014–2015)
• Boaz & Ruth: Ampersand Board (2011–2015)
• Phillips Brooks House Association Alumni Association: President (2009–2011)