Gov/Public Sector Attorneys Honor Gray

Article Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Written By: Russell Rawlings

Jeff Gray, right, accepts award from Mark Payne.

The Government and Public Sector Section of the North Carolina Bar Association has selected Jeff Gray of Raleigh as the 2009 recipient of its Outstanding Government and Public Sector Attorney Award.

The award was presented Friday in conjunction with the section’s annual meeting at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary. Mark Payne, section chair, presented the award.

The purpose of the award is to honor an outstanding government attorney as an exemplar of the excellence, dedication and passion for justice of North Carolina’s government and public sector attorneys.

Payne noted that this year’s recipient fit the award criteria to perfection with the possible exception of the requirement that the “attorney must be an exemplar of quiet excellence of North Carolina’s government and public sector attorneys.”

“Some of you may have a hard time associating ‘quiet’ with this year’s recipient, but his excellence speaks loud and clear.”

Gray served in the Office of the N.C. Attorney General from 1985-91 and 1992-98. He has been engaged in private practice since 1998 and currently manages the Raleigh office of Rose Rand Wallace, P.A.

“Jeff served as the first chair of the committee of government and public sector attorneys,” Payne added, “which certainly makes him one of the founding fathers of this section.”

In accepting the award, Gray recalled the process through which the committee was established.

“It all began with a letter from me to Allan Head, the executive director of the bar association,” Gray said. “From there it progressed from (President) Larry Sitton to (President) Betty Quick, and so on.”

Gray is a 1981 graduate of Western Carolina University. He received his law degree from the Campbell University School of Law in 1985. In addition to chairing the committee which evolved into the Government and Public Sector Section in 2002, he has also chaired this section (2005-06) and the Administrative Law Section (2007-08).

“When I grow up I want to be like Dan McLawhorn and chair every section of the North Carolina Bar Association,” Gray joked. “After my family, my church and my law practice, the North Carolina Bar Association is next in line. It truly is a wonderful organization.”

Gray’s nomination cited his service as a member of the Administrative Rules Review Commission and 20 years of legal service to local and state government.

“Jeff is widely recognized as an exceptional lawyer and person,” the nomination stated. “He would have excelled no matter the choice of career field, and he almost went down other paths, including both law enforcement and clergy. His chosen course was law and he is regarded as an expert in administrative and regulatory issues, law enforcement and local and state government issues.”

Gray, who professes that he will always be a government attorney, possesses a depth of knowledge of governmental issues that enables him to represent local governments, law enforcement agencies and other various parties in legislative and lobbying work.

“Despite the often contentious nature of this work,” his nomination continues, “Jeff’s colleagues and adversaries know him to be a true and trusted professional in every sense. His exceptional accomplishment is to have achieved such tremendous respect and admiration of his peers for the way he practices law.

“He is zealous and passionate in representing his clients. He is knowledgeable as a result of his keen academic mind and experiences. He has a keen wit and a perspective on the world unlike any other that causes him to take his clients and his causes seriously, but never himself.”