 He worked as a lawyer in private practice, with a brief stint as assistant county solicitor in Orange County, Florida; became an associate, and then partner, in the law firm of Gurney, Skolfield & Frey in Winter Park, Florida, from 1963 to 1967; served as acting general counsel of the Florida State Turnpike Authority from 1966 to 1967; and became a partner in 1967 in the law firm of Mateer, Frey, Young & Harbert of Orlando.Frey was first elected in 1968 to succeed Edward Gurney, who in turn became Florida's first Republican U.S.Senator since Reconstruction.