Kenneth Gray, ’79

Kenneth Gray ’79 was sitting in Professor Manaster’s environmental law class when it hit him.

"This is what I want to do," he thought. "This is good stuff."

The fascinating mix of policy, science, and law that appealed to Gray then is still something that he enjoys now in his work as a partner at Pierce Atwood in Portland, Maine. His work focuses on hazardous substance and hazardous waste management. "Nasty stuff," he says.

His experience with toxic waste began when he was studying government at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. A small chemical manufacturer spilled kepone, a carcinogenic insecticide, into the James River. This experience later inspired him to write a paper about the Toxic Substances Control Act for Manaster’s class. He entered the paper into the American Trial Lawyers Association’s Environmental Law Essay Contest, and it was nationally recognized. He was invited to an ATLA meeting in Los Angeles, an exciting experience for a starving law student. Even better, the recognition helped him get a job at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he worked on an array of issues, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, Superfund, and the Clean Water Act.

Gray left the EPA in 1986 and, after a year working for Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C., he saw an opening at Pierce Atwood and jumped at the opportunity.

"The quality of life here is way too good compared with D.C.," he says.

Gray feels right at home at Pierce Atwood, which is one of the largest firms north of Boston and employs a lot of attorneys who concentrate on environmental work full-time. Although he is happiest when he can "make an environmental problem go away," Gray spends most of his time addressing and resolving issues before they become problems. However, when problems do arise, he is also involved in solving them. He has negotiated and settled various Superfund cases, including one involving the Portland Bangor Waste Oil Site in Wells, one of the largest in Maine.

Gray still thinks about his time at Santa Clara, and says he owes the school a lot.

"I loved law school at Santa Clara," he insists, "and that makes me unusual because most people don’t love law school. But the academic discipline was exactly what I was looking for. It gave me the opportunity to learn from outstanding teachers."