While watching him blow out the single candle (because the cake couldn't accommodate 75 actual candles), I was flooded with memories from the past 13 years. When I came to work at the firm in August of 1998, Wray was a spring chicken -- a mere 61 years old. I remember my father (the smartest man on earth) questioning my decision to go to work for someone who was so obviously going to be interested in winding down his career at that point in his life.
Even the smartest man on earth is wrong sometimes.
At 61 years old, Wray was just settling into his routine of 11 hour workdays, 7 days a week. You think I'm kidding.
I'm not.
Wray was and still is a veritable force of nature. After practicing law all over this great state of ours, and meeting lawyers from around the country, I am still in awe that I had the good fortune to interview with him in April of my third year of law school. I have yet to find a lawyer with his breadth of knowledge, experience and wisdom. I have a feeling that I could search the world over and still not find someone who is one tenth the lawyer Wray is. Before I actually started practicing law, I had the opportunity to train under my first mentor, Tom, a well known prosecutor who has tried more murder cases in the state of Georgia than any other lawyer. Tom was a brilliant trial lawyer and a first rate teacher. I literally spent every single Saturday and Sunday of my third year of law school training for one mock trial competition or another under Tom's tutelage. I spent my last semester of law school trying cases for the Gwinnett County Solicitor's Office under Georgia's Third Year Practice Act. And I was ready for battle. Or so I thought.
When I first stepped into the courtroom with Wray to try my first civil case, I was immediately struck by his presence. His command of the courtroom. He knew the well of that courtroom in Jones County, Georgia like the back of his hand. By the second day of the trial, the clerk was meeting us at the door with a hot cup of coffee for Wray. The Judge couldn't help but smile when Wray stood to address him. He knew that he was in for a lesson or two about Georgia law. (Too bad he didn't actually listen or apply those lessons when issuing several of his rulings.) The jury was clearly enamored by him. And I, a first year lawyer who thought she knew everything about trial work, was humbled (for perhaps the first time in my life).
Watching Wray during the voir dire process, I learned so much more than I ever could have in a classroom at Georgia State University College of Law. He connected with the potential jurors in a way that isn't written in hornbooks. His opening statement was masterful. His cross-examination of the deceased boy's mother was appropriate in tone and manner. And his cross-examination of the Plaintiffs' experts was exact and methodical. Death by a thousand cuts. It was as if he had a sharp blade and sliced away at the expert, in a way that wasn't brazen or brash. Hell, the expert didn't know his throat had been cut until Wray turned his back and announced that he passed the witness. Only then did the expert realize that he was beaten by a man better than he. When it was time for closing arguments, I literally held my breath with anticipation. I was not disappointed. Wray delivered a brilliant closing argument so powerful that some of the jurors were in tears.
After five days of bloody battle in the courtroom against two very well known and prominent lawyers in Jones County, we received a defense verdict in under 55 minutes. I knew I had found my mentor.
Shortly after the trial, I was talking to Wray in his office, telling him that I was blown away by his performance during the trial. I questioned whether I (who previously thought she was God's gift to trial work) would ever live up to Wray's example. He told me then: "Stay with me for 2 years, and I'll make you a good lawyer."
I did.
And when I announced two years later that I was at the end of that tenure, Wray quipped: "Give me another five, and I'll make you great."
Again, I did.
I don't know if he made me great, but he took me under his wing. I soaked everything up like a sponge. I swear I learned more by listening to Wray's conversations with other lawyers and clients than I did in the three years of law school. I toiled beside him, often until the wee hours of the morning, and often on weekends. I willingly sacrificed holidays, vacations, time with my family and friends to stand in Wray's shadow in the hopes of becoming more and more like him.
I'm so glad I made those sacrifices. For he is not only a phenomenal lawyer, but a wonderful and principled man. He is a husband to his wife of nearly 50 years; a father to his son and daughter; a brother who takes care of his sister and relishes time with his brother; and a grandfather to his two grandsons.
This photo taken of Wray and his youngest grandson, Leo, this summer while they both slept moves me. Despite Wray's love of the law (and anyone who knows him knows that Wray definitely loves the law), his love of his family far surpasses anything else. He taught me that, although we may have to sacrifice some things, we must never lose sight of what's important in life. Our relationships with our loved ones must come first, even if that means the report doesn't go out until the morning or we have to get an extension on a deadline to file a brief.
At the ripe old age of 75, and after he "semi-retired" last year, Wray is still a force in the corner office. He is working less hours, but can still generally be found catching up on paperwork at his desk on Saturday mornings. I remember joking with him once, saying that I would hang myself if I was still working as hard as he works when I'm in my 70's. I now realize how wrong I was yet again. Wray is 75 years old and still practicing his craft that he loves dearly.
I will continue to toil beside him for as long as he continues to make the 2.2 mile commute from his home to our offices each day. I made a promise to him early in my career that, as long as he was in the trenches, I would be beside him. At the time, I didn't realize what I was getting into. But I'm sure thankful to be a part of his team.
Happy Birthday to Wray, my mentor, my partner, and my friend. And thank you. For everything.
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