About the William P. Gray Legion Lex Inn of Court

The William P. Gray Legion Lex American Inn of Court is one of three thriving Inns of Court in Orange County, California.  Like all of the American Inns of Court, one of its core principles is to assist the "administration of justice" by promoting "legal excellence, civility, professionalism and ethics at a national level".  With about 20 judicial officers from both state and federal courts, the Gray-Legion Lex Inn presents a great opportunity, particularly for younger lawyers, to build a collegial relationship with experienced practitioners and judicial officers, who are all on a first-name basis.  The Gray Inn has over 65 active members.  Any attorney or judicial officer interested in joining the Gray Inn is encouraged to contact our membership chair, Alex Avery, at aavery@steptoe.com.

We conduct our meetings at the law firm of Crowell & Moring, 3 Park Plaza, 20th Floor, Irvine.  Our meetings are held monthly from September to November and January to May, with a year-end party in June.  The monthly meetings are usually held on the third Tuesday of the month, with a social hour from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., dinner starting at 6 p.m., and an educational program that provides MCLE credit from 6:30 p.m. to about 8 p.m.  Our past programs this year have been:

• September 16, 2025 - Professor Robert S. Chang of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at UC Irvine School of Law - What Asian American Legal History Can Teach Us About Travel Bans, Birthright Citizenship, the Trans Military Ban, the Attack on Law Firms, and Other Contemporary Issues
• October 21, 2025 - Lisa McCall and David Outwater - Protecting Your Trial Record for Appeal
• November 18, 2025 - Reza Torkzadeh - Emerging Technology and the Practice of Law: Ethical Guardrails for a Changing Profession
• December 18, 2025 (Joint Event) - The Honorable Andrew J. Guilford, United States District Judge (Ret.) - The Death of the Anaheim Angels: The Pain, The Practical, The Law, The Curse of Arte, and Will They Be Resurrected to Fly Again - untold stories of the City of Anaheim v. Angels Baseball LP trial
• January 20, 2026 - Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Sheila Hanson and Assistant Presiding Judge Terri Flynn-Peister - The State of the Orange County Courts

Our upcoming meetings for the rest of this year are scheduled as follows:

• February 17, 2026 - Diane Bass - Representing the Bookie in the Shohei Ohtani Betting Scandal: Dealing with the Media in High Profile Cases

Diane Bass is a Los Angeles federal criminal defense attorney who represented Mathew Bowyer, the bookie linked to the Ohtani investigation, and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.  Diane will present on strategy, credibility, and mitigation behind the scenes of the Shohei Ohtani betting scandal.

• March 17, 2026 - Senior Federal Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill, Judge Eric Wersching and Judge Olga Giller - Evidence
• April 21, 2026 - Chancellor's Professor of Law Song Richardson of the UC Irvine School of Law
• May 19, 2026 - Dana Heyde will lead a group of Inn members to present a creative and engaging skit bringing landmark civil rights cases to life through the music of the Beatles
• June 7, 2026 - Year-End Party

 

History of the William P. Gray Legion Lex Inn

The William P. Gray Legion Lex American Inn of Court was formed in 1989 as the Legion Lex Inn and was affiliated with the USC Law School.  Judge Gray's son, Judge James P. Gray, Ret., served as president for the Inn's first seven years and was honored when the Inn's board of directors decided to name its chapter after his father, a prominent federal judge in Los Angeles.  Other instrumental members of the legal community involved in the formation of the Gray Inn included Judge Robert Todd and attorneys Nathan Lamoure, Marjorie Fuller, Michael Schroeder, John J. Zitny and Bernard A. Leckie who enjoyed having several cases before the elder Judge Gray and remembers him fondly as "one of the most well respected, intelligent jurists of his time.  Everybody respected him".

Mr. Leckie noted that over the years, there have been meetings that included all of the justices of California's 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 3.  And with about 20 judicial officers from both state and federal courts the Gray Inn presents "a great opportunity to build a collegial relationship with the judiciary", he says.  This is a sentiment echoed by Jim Gray: "All of the Inns give a unique opportunity for particularly younger lawyers to rub elbows with experienced practitioners and judges, who are all on a first name basis.  And there is no such thing as a dumb question."