Holland & Hart is proud to announce that Kyle Gray, who practices in the firm’s Billings, Montana office, has been selected by the State Bar of Montana as the 2019 recipient of the Neil Haight Pro Bono Award. The State Bar of Montana Justice Initiatives Committee selects a recipient who is a leader or innovator in the delivery of civil legal services to those in need in Montana or who has performed significant civil pro bono activity. This memorial award is named in honor of Neil Haight, who served as the Executive Director of Montana Legal Services Association for more than 30 years.
Recognized as a leading appellate lawyer in Montana, Gray specializes in complex civil litigation and appellate advocacy, with an emphasis on environmental litigation, including environmental insurance coverage litigation. A fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, Gray has had an extensive appellate career in the Montana and Wyoming state courts, and the federal Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal, including two victories before the United States Supreme Court. She is an active member of the ACLU of Montana Litigation Committee, and over her career has worked with both the state and national ACLU on a wide variety of constitutional issues.
“Taking on pro bono representation is some of the most rewarding work I do,” Gray said. “I am privileged to practice at a supportive firm dedicated to pro bono work, and in my three decades in the Billings office Holland & Hart has always stood by me, no matter how broad ranging and controversial the project, or how powerful the opposition.”
Gray has also generously devoted thousands of pro bono hours on matters ranging from prison litigation against the State of Montana, to representing a member of the Crow Tribe against a criminal citation for hunting elk in a national forest and packing the meat home across the border to help feed his family and other tribal members on the Crow Reservation. This latest matter, Herrera v. Wyoming, was reviewed this year by the United States Supreme Court, which overturned the state court criminal conviction, giving new life to a 150-year old Treaty that Wyoming had refused to recognize.
Gray received the Neil Haight Pro Bono Award for her notable pro bono contributions in Billings on September 12, at the State Bar’s Annual Meeting Awards Banquet and Benefit for the Montana Justice Foundation.