MSU-DCL College of Law graduate Jeffrey Gray said he only wants a good job and to practice law in his hometown after he won the Charles King Award.
The $500 award is given in recognition of the student with the highest grade point average for the each graduating class.
Graduating MSU-DCL last spring with a 3.93 GPA, Gray now works as a law clerk intern with United States District Court Eastern District of Michigan with Judge Lawrence Zatkoff.
Gray said he is happy to have achieved the award but feels he only studied hard.
"There aren't really a whole lot of memorable moments in law school to be honest," Gray said. "I worked pretty hard and tried to keep my ranking up."
Living with his wife Katie in Troy, Gray said he plans on moving back to Grand Rapids after his two-year internship as a clerk. Gray grew up in Grand Rapids and studied economics at Calvin College.
"Grand Rapids, for a lot of people when they leave, is a place they tend to come back to," Gray said. "It is a great community to work in."
MSU-DCL Assistant Dean Connell Alsup said Gray's awards will take him far in the job market.
In addition to the King award, in his three years at MSU-DCL, Gray won the Amy D. Bloomer Award, The Rodney M. and Marie Lockwood Memorial Award, the David Martin State Bar Negligence Award, the Helen G. Buchanan Memorial Award and the Professor William B. Giles Award.
"I just got involved," he said. "I just did as much studying as possible. Go to class. Get out and study in the library. Meet with your study group and then sleep."
MSU-DCL Professor Elliott Spoon said Gray was outspoken in his corporate finance class. After the finance class, Spoon said Gray was so interested in law that he regularly sat in on Spoon's mortgage banking class without receiving credit.
"He's bright and interested in learning as much as he can," Spoon said. "Both are great attributes to be a great lawyer."
MSU-DCL professor Frank Ravitch said Gray was a recognizable figure at the law college.
"He wouldn't just sit there like a wallflower," Ravitch said. "It's not enough to just be good for a semester. You have to be consistently on top of your game for three years."
