Darrell A. Clay

Professional Experience

Darrell is a partner of Walter & Haverfield, and chairs the firm's Antitrust and Unfair Trade Practices and the Creditors' Rights and Bankruptcy practice groups. His practice encompasses both complex civil and white collar criminal defense litigation in state and federal courts.

In the civil area, Darrell's practice spans four broad areas. First, Darrell advises, counsels, and represents clients in all types of antitrust and unfair competition matters. He regularly performs antitrust reviews of business agreements and advises clients on strategies to avoid exposure to allegations of anticompetitive activity. He represents employers and employees in litigation over restrictive employment covenants and confidentiality agreements, including obtaining and opposing injunctive relief. He also has significant experience in the law of trade secrets, including trying several such cases to jury verdict in state and federal court. He also counsels employers on how to structure restrictive covenants to avoid having them judicially narrowed or invalidated.

Second, drawing on his experience as an instrument-rated pilot, Darrell is involved in a wide variety of aviation-related matters. He has defended manufacturers and home builders of airplanes and helicopters in product liability claims. He has negotiated and drafted lease and leaseback agreements, fractional ownership agreements, partnership and co-partnership agreements, and the like for aircraft owners and operators. As a Panel Attorney for the Legal Services Plan of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Darrell has advised, counseled and defended dozens of pilots, mechanics, and other certificate holders in FAA and NTSB enforcement proceedings. He owns N62TB, a 1985 Socata Trinidad TB-20.

Third, Darrell handles a variety of litigation matters involving complex business issues. Recently, he successfully obtained summary judgment in a case claiming breach of a policy of title insurance in which the claimant sought in excess of $1 million in damages; the judgment was affirmed on appeal. Darrell also handled the appeal of that case, and persuaded the Court of Appeal to affirm the summary judgment.  He has represented an international manufacturer in an arbitration proceeding involvig a supply agreement.  Darrell often represent law firms and attorneys in both professional liability claims and other types of litigation.

Fourth, Darrell represents creditors in all phases of bankruptcy and complex collection litigation. Recent representative engagements in this area have included defending a law firm in litigation by the United States Trustee alleging self-dealing and malfeasance in management of a prior firm, pursuing claims for payment of pre-petition compensation to various manufacturer's representatives, successfully obtaining an order declaring portions of a debtor's debts nondischargeable, and pursuing in multiple states a $1.3 million judgment owed to a client.

In the criminal arena, Darrell has handled dozens of high-profile criminal matters, including trying the first case ever brought to trial under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. He defended a scrap metal executive in a jury trial alleging price fixing in Southern Florida during the period following Hurricane Andrew. He defended a senior executive of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority against charges of theft in office. He has represented and negotiated plea and immunity agreements for numerous other clients, and is intimately familiar with the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the forfeiture laws of Ohio, including a recent case in which he persuaded the court to deny forfeiture of an automobile valued in excess of $25,000. He has also represented non-target witnesses in testimony before the grand jury and in responding to subpoenas for documents and electronic files.

Prior to joining the firm, Darrell practiced in New Orleans, Louisiana where he served as a Fellow in the nationally-recognized Institute of Politics. He also served as a judicial clerk to Judge Steven R. Plotkin of the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. In his spare time, Darrell volunteers for Angel Flight, donating his time and airplane to fly persons in need of medical attention to destinations throughout the Midwest.