William grew up in Clemson, SC. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Virginia Tech before earning his Master’s degree at Georgetown University. Where he was inducted into the national religious studies honors society, Theta Kappa Alpha. He earned his JD at Brooklyn Law School as a Dean’s Merit Scholar, Academic Achievement Scholar, and as Recipient of the Centennial Grant. William earned CALI awards in Jurisprudence: Rationality & Responsibility, Divorce Mediation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
In March 2016 William joined Rodriguez-McCloskey, PLLC, where he focused on complex commercial litigation. He worked on breach of contracts, franchise agreements, debtor-creditor laws, and fraudulent conveyances under the False Claims Act. He practiced in New York’s Southern and Eastern Districts, the federal bankruptcy courts, the Supreme Court and Commercial Division of New York, as well as the Appellate Division.
William’s prior experience includes working as a Mediator in Manhattan Civil Court and clerking for Brooklyn’s District Attorney’s Office (Major Narcotics Investigations Bureau and the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau) and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of New York (Internet Bureau—Department of Economic Justice). His other prior experience includes matrimonial and transactional real estate law.
After nearly eight years in New York City, William moved back to South Carolina, to Charleston.
After working briefly at Motley Rice in Securities Frauds, he took the SC Bar and upon admittance has worked at Shelly Leeke Law Firm since.
He is a member of the NY, SC, and Charleston County Bar Associations. In his free time, William enjoys tennis, hiking, and anything outdoors.
Bar Admissions
- South Carolina
- New York
Awards In Education
- Virginia Tech, Magna Cum Laude, Dean’s List (eight semesters); National Society of Collegiate Scholars
- Georgetown University, Theta Kappa Alpha, National Religious Studies Honors Society
- Brooklyn Law School, Dean’s Merit Scholar, Academic Achievement Scholar, Recipient Centennial Grant
Publications
- Barrett, William J., The Courage to Create as a Necessary Means to Being, Thesis, Georgetown
University. Ann Arbor: ProQuest/UMI, 2009. (Publication No. AAT 1463623) - Barrett, William J., Balance and Order—Thomas Jefferson in Notes on Virginia, Writing Across the Curriculum 4:5–17 (2008).
