Frances L. Clay

Frances L. Clay’s primary areas of practice involve workers’ compensation law and defending governmental entities against discrimination, employment, civil rights, prisoner, and sexual harassment claims.

She has been appointed a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia. Additionally, she practices in the area of general insurance defense.

Ms. Clay became a member of the State Bar of Georgia in 2001. She is admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and in the State and Superior Courts of Georgia.

Ms. Clay earned a B.A. from the University of the South (1989), an M.A. from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in Newcastle, England (1991), and a J.D. from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law (2001), where she was the Managing Editor of the Mercer Law Review, earned recognition as the Best Oralist at the National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition, and was named to the Order of the Barristers.

Areas of Practice

• Governmental Tort Liability/Civil Rights
• Workers’ Compensation

Bar Admissions

• Georgia, 2001
• U.S. District Court Middle District of Georgia
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Georgia
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Georgia
• U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit

Education

• Mercer University, Walter F. George School of Law, Macon, Georgia
  • J.D – 2001
  • Law Review: Mercer Law Review, Managing Editor, 1999 – 2001
• University of the South , Sewanee, Tennessee
  • B.A. – 1989
  • Major: English
• University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle, United Kingdom
  • M.A., English and American Literature of the Twentieth Century – 1991

Published Works

Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Ass’n v. U.S.: A Retreat from Full First Amendment Protection for Commercial Speech, Mercer Law Review, Vol. 51, No. 3, 2000

Representative Cases

Curves, LLC v. Spalding County, 685 F.3d 1284 (11th Cir. 2012)

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association, Member, 2001 – Present
• Georgia Bar Association, Member, 2001 – Present
• Macon Bar Association , Member, 2002 – Present
• William Augustus Bootle American Inn of Court, Member since 2002; President 2014-2015
• Defense Research Institute, Member, 2010 – Present
• Georgia Defense Lawyers Association, Member, 2002 – Present

Past Employment Positions

• U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, Law Clerk, 2001 – 2002
• The Baylor School, Teacher, 1994 – 1997