Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Yale Law '90: Vernon Grigg
Vernon Grigg grew up in Arizona, then went to the University of Michigan before coming to Yale Law. My first year there, he lived next door with Rich Sullivan (er, the Hon. Richard Sullivan). We had a lot of fun that year-- it's fair to say we had a great time exploring New Haven.
Because he took time out to clerk on the Supreme Courts of Israel and South Africa, Vernon actually graduated a year after us-- but that was a pretty awesome reason to delay.
After law school, Vernon headed to San Francisco to clerk for a federal judge and then stayed there to do an extraordinary array of things. He worked for a firm, and later started his own. For five years (in fact, almost exactly the same five years that Rich Sullivan and I were both working as prosecutors, too), he worked for the San Francisco District Attorney, and rose to become the head of both the narcotics and the high-tech crimes unit there. In that role, he was a true innovator, working to start drug courts and alternatives to incarceration.
After his stint in public service, he returned to private work. Among his specialties was working with sports franchises in crisis, which... well, there is work in that field.
Along with his legal work, Vernon now serves as the President of the Center for Electoral Equity, which works to make "electoral processes more transparent and more inclusive." Which is pretty important right now, as y'all already know. In the community, he has led a number of other projects, including the preservation of the Bayview Opera House in the Hunter's Point section of San Francisco.
I'm not surprised at what Vernon has been able to accomplish-- he was always a person to shoot high and persevere.
