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Robert Grey, Jr., president of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and senior counsel (retired) at Hunton & Williams, was the speaker for  the James P. White Lecture on Legal Education at IU McKinney on April 18.

The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, or LCLD, is an organization of more than 285 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who have dedicated themselves to creating a diverse legal profession in the United States. Grey was elected president of LCLD in 2012.

Grey was an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received his undergraduate education, from 1978 to 1981. He also started his own law firm, Grey & Wesley, during this time. In 1982, he was appointed by the governor to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board; he became chair in 1983 and served for another two years. In 1985, he joined the law firm of Mays Valentine Davenport & Moore, which later became Troutman Sanders. In 1995, Grey went to LeClair Ryan and became affiliated with the McCammon Mediation Group Ltd. He joined Hunton & Williams in 2002.

From 1998 to 2002, Grey served as chair of the ABA’s House of Delegates and was the first African American to be an officer of the Association. He was elected president of the ABA in 2004, the second African American to hold the position. In 2009, Grey was appointed by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate, to serve on the board of the Legal Services Corporation.

Grey’s previous community service includes the chair of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, membership on the board of visitors of Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University, the board of trustees at Washington and Lee University, and the board of visitors at St. Catherine’s School. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.

In the photo from left are Professor Emeritus James P. White; Robert Grey, Jr.; and IU McKinney Dean Andrew R. Klein.