CLAY COUNTY - William Rothrock, Esq., has always found joy in helping others. 

Whether dressed as a solider supporting United States' interests and allied nations or as a man in a polished suit sitting next to a defendant in a courtroom, it doesn't matter. The end goal of serving others remains the same.

"If you don't feel like you're making a significant, or impactful, contribution to society, you feel empty. There's a void and it eats at your soul," he said. 

As a retired U.S. Army Green Beret, Rothrock is not new to making a difference in people's lives. That's why taking the leap to practice law was a challenge he wanted to tackle head on. 

"My military career, as somebody would say something was hard my response was 'How hard could it be?' And that was one of the reasons I chose law school."

As a public defender, Rothrock brings pride and heart to every case that comes across his desk. No matter the person. No matter the situation.

"You're there to make sure that everybody gets a fair trial. You're there to make sure the system works," he said.

"These are not bad people. They're just people that were either in the wrong place at the wrong time [or] some of them wrongfully accused."

For him, seeing the good in everyone is something he learned a long time ago. His career in the military was set in stone from the time he was a child. Born and raised in Texas, his family had strong ties to serving their country, and hearing their stories always fascinated him.

After joining the Army as a regular infantryman, he said his first duty station was in Panama. From there, he encountered various countries like Tunisia, Kosovo and Germany and Afghanistan enlisting in ranger and airborne schools. It was in Italy that he met his wife, Cinzia, who owned a bakery.

After returning from a nine-month trip to Afghanistan, Rothrock said his interests in special forces was at an all-time high. He moved to Fort Benning, Georgia where he became a ranger instructor and attended special operations dive school and the Ranger Training Brigade.

His experience working with Green Berets made him decide where he wanted to be. 

After completing special force qualifications, he became a special force engineer, specializing in construction, demolition and logistics. When he wasn't managing the property book and finance contracts, he was dismantling or neutralizing improvised explosive devices, finding booby traps and building base reinforcements. 

They were trained on defense strategies, and his job was counterinsurgency and conventional guerrilla warfare.

"You're teaching Afghans how to defend against those types of tactics. But we are trained in conducting those tactics," Rothrock said. "That's what Green Berets are. That's our specialty."

In 2014, one question from his daughter, Emma, changed everything.

"I was in the garage laying out all my equipment. She was asking me, ‘What's that?' And I was telling her what my equipment was used for, and one of them was my body armor. I was like 'Well, it stops bullets."

When he wasn't able to promise her that he would wear it at all times, he knew it may have been time to slow down.

"It hit home hard."

After 18 years of serving, he began planning a break. Rothrock headed up to West Point, Virginia and spent the last few years of his military career teaching strategies and training cadets on their way to Special Forces SCUBA School.

Never would he have thought law would be his next passion. He began his journey of obtaining his law degree at 45 years old. The first year, he said, was difficult. But he knew the experience would go hand and hand with the lessons he had acquired over the years.

He began his role at the Clay County Courthouse last September. Colleagues he enjoys working with and impactful clients have made the experience powerful, he said.

During his time in Afghanistan, Rothrock said one thing he learned was that although they all came from different walks of life, they all had more in common that he thought. He’s continued to carry that mindset.

"There were people that we detained, you know, Taliban members that they loved their country. They loved their family; they would do anything to defend them. And they were willing to lay down their life to defend their family and country."

"Whether you're a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, whether you're a criminal in Clay County, whether you're a Clay County Sheriff's Office deputy, a judge, a teacher, it doesn't matter," he said. "People fall in that spectrum everywhere.”

 Rothrock's newfound passion has filled a void he was missing. Part of his military experience included purpose. Impacting the lives of others in a positive way. As a public defender, he gets a piece of that back every day.