“Jeffrey Huston Gray”

Born in 1950, Jeff attended Oakwood High School in Dayton, Ohio, Class of 1968 and graduated from Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan in 1972. While at Hillsdale, Jeff was President of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Society and was bestowed the honor of being selected for the list of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Jeff graduated from Hillsdale College with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Administration. In 1975 (after a brief run with Owens Illinois, as a sales rep in the plastics products division, Toledo, Ohio, then working on a drift fishing boat off Delray Beach, Florida and then spending some time on Mom’s working ranch, the “Glory B” in St. Ignatius, Montana), Jeff was admitted to Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Lansing, Michigan.

After completing law school and earning a Juris Doctor Degree, Jeff and his family moved to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In 1978 he passed the South Carolina Bar. To obtain trial experience, in 1980 Jeff joined the Beaufort County Public Defender’s Office. The following year Jeff was appointed as the Beaufort County Public Defender. He then became an associate with the law firm of Adams, Adams, Brennen & Gardner in Savannah, Georgia. Jeff then formed his own firm at the Pineland Mall, being the first law firm on the North end of Hilton Head Island. In 1985 Heritage Properties, L.L.P. hired Jeff as In-House Counsel and Vice President where he undertook development and acquisition work. In 1986, Jeff and his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia having been offered the position of House Counsel with Laing Properties, Inc. a British development firm. Jeff, during his tenure with Laing, was instrumental in the diversification and restructuring of assets which resulted in an increase in portfolio value ($110m to $815m 1987-1996). In 1996, Laing Properties’ was acquired by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Seeing an opportunity to open a viable law practice in Northern Greenville County, Jeff returned to South Carolina in 1996 becoming the first attorney to practice in the “Dark Corner”.

Jeff and his wife, Susan are active in the community attending Saluda United Methodist Church. They live on a 40-acre farm midway between the Cliffs at Glassy and the Cliffs Valley developments where they are raising children, Nicholas and Abigail. Jeff’s two older children, Samantha and Alexis have graduated from high school and attend colleges out West, Alexis at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and Samantha at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. As time permits away from work and family, Jeff and Susan enjoy volunteering their time to local churches, schools, conservation, and other non-profit groups.

To get a better feel for the practice Jeff has established, his family and the wonderful country environment known as “Carolina’s Upstate”, click on “photos”.