James P. Gray

Judge Jim Gray was a trial court judge in Orange County, California for 25 years, and was awarded the Orange County Bar Association's highest lifetime achievement award. Judge Gray also started what was probably the first drug court in the country within six months of his appointment to the bench, this one addressing alcohol-related offenses. Prior to becoming a judge, Jim Gray was a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, a criminal defense attorney in the Navy JAG Corps, and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, where he probably should be in the Guinness Book of Records for brushing his teeth in front of more elementary school classes than anyone else in history. Jim also founded Teen Court, which takes real juvenile delinquency cases to 14 different high schools in Orange County, thus helping not only the subjects and their parents focus upon responsible behavior, but similarly helping the high school jurors and members of the audience to do the same thing. "You show me your friends, and I'll show you your future" is one of the lessons demonstrated by Judge Jim Gray. He also founded the "William P. Gray" Chapter of the American Inns of Court, which is a legal professional group that focuses upon ethics and camaraderie in the practice -- which is what his father, Judge William P. Gray, stood for throughout his legal career. Judge Jim is happily married to his wife, Dr. Grace Walker Gray, DPT, DOT, and has four children, Ky (adopted from an orphanage in Vietnam in 1973), William and his wife Carla, Jennifer, and Morgan and his wife Nicole -- and their two children/his grandchildren(!) Hudson and Elisabeth.