Robert J. Grey, Jr., Partner at Hunton & Williams and Executive Director of LCLD since 2010, was named President of the organization by the Board of Directors on September 17, 2014.
Board Chair Brad Smith announced the appointment at the opening session of the Fifth Annual Membership Meeting on September 18.
Since taking the helm, Robert "has done an amazing job as executive director," Smith said in his remarks. Now that LCLD is established, the Board "thought we should be led by someone who has the title President—to even more effectively represent us to the rest of the profession and the country as a whole."
A former president of the American Bar Association, Grey has been involved with LCLD since shortly after its founding, and has overseen the rapid growth of the organization to more than 220 representatives from major corporations and the nation's largest law firms.
Led by Grey, LCLD has launched a number of successful programs designed to diversify the legal profession, including the Fellows, 1L Scholars, and Success in Law School Mentoring programs whose beneficiaries now number in the thousands. He has also guided a professional staff that has grown in size and sophistication to keep pace with the organization.
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Grey earned his BS from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1973 and his law degree from Washington and Lee University in 1976. A former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Grey has a long and distinguished legal career that spans both private practice and public service.
Among his numerous awards and honorary degrees, Grey received the Gertrude E. Rush Award and Wiley A. Branton Award from the National Bar Association, the Flame Bearer Award from the United Negro College Fund, the Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Association of Community Leadership and Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
In 2011, he was named by President Obama to the Board of the Legal Services Corporation.