Clay grew up in Riverside, California. He attended the University of California, Irvine, where he graduated with a degree in English (cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).

After working as a Physical Science Technician for the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Clay earned his Juris Doctorate from the Pepperdine University School of Law.

Clay’s entire legal career has been devoted to litigating a wide variety of business disputes representing both plaintiffs and defendants. Clay has extensive experience in construction law, including mechanics’ liens, design professional liens, stop payment notices, bond actions, express defense/indemnity, and contractor/design professional liability. Clay is also experienced in real property disputes, including commercial landlord-tenant disputes, partition actions, boundary and neighbor disputes, and title insurance coverage disputes. Clay is experienced in employment discrimination and wage and hour claims, and has extensive experience in public entity liability and defense.

Clay is a baseball aficionado and youth sports coach, distance swimmer, and some time creative writer. He lives in Glendale with his wife Elizabeth and their four children.