Sometimes you have to watch an agenda for what’s not there.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports that last Friday Alabama State University general counsel Fred Gray Sr. was fired at a meeting of the university’s board of trustees.
The termination of outside GC Gray was apparently not on the agenda. Mr. Gray is a prominent civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has also been recognized by the ABA with the Thurgood Marshall Award.
Mr. Gray is senior partner with the law firm of Gray, Langford, Sapp, McGowan, Gray & Nathanson.
You assume that this sort of thing could have been handled better. According to the report:
The move to select a new general counsel was not on the agenda. Trustee Marvin Wiggins made a recommendation out of the blue to change university counsel. Gray stood up to ask why Wiggins made the request.
“There was a motion on the floor to terminate Mr. Gray, which spurned a little banter about procedure,†said Bell, who did not know who cast the dissenting votes. “There was a bit more banter about procedure, but both motions passed.â€
Gray spoke briefly with board Chairman Elton Dean after the vote and then walked out of the board room.
As GC, you have one client. That’s great most of the time.
But you really have to watch that client.