About
San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney Ward Stafford Clay
Ward Stafford Clay is a former San Diego Deputy District Attorney and a state Certified Specialist in Criminal Law. He has been practicing criminal law for over 20 years. Ward is a member of the California State Bar Association, the Hawaii State Bar Association and is certified and admitted to practice law before The United States Court of Appeals, The United States District Courts, The United States Tax Court, The Supreme Court of California, The California Courts of Appeal and all California Superior Courts. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the San Diego County Bar Association.
Prior to entering private practice, Ward was a criminal prosecutor for both the criminal division of the San Diego City Attorney’s Office and the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. While employed by the criminal division of the City Attorney’s Office, he was the Chief of the Appellate Unit. While employed by the District Attorney, he was a trial attorney and a member of the J.U.D.G.E. unit, a specialized task force involved in the investigation and prosecution of criminal street gang members.
Since leaving the District Attorney’s office in 1991, Ward Clay has successfully defended thousands of federal and state criminal cases. Many of those cases involved high profile defenses in which police officers, doctors, lawyers and corporate executives were accused of criminal wrongdoing. Ward Clay has also successfully defended numerous cases in the state and federal appellate courts which resulted in changes of the law beneficial to his clients.
Ward Clay graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with honors as well as Loyola Law School in Los Angele. He is a distinguished trial lawyer with an accomplished record and honorable reputation among his peers. Ward Clay has also appeared in the News (e.g. San Diego Union Tribune, North County Times) and on TV (e.g. CBS2, KUSI) as a commentator and legal expert. In fact, Ward's cases have been making headlines for over twenty years!
If you or someone close to you has been or is about to be charged with a criminal offense, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, contact San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney Ward Stafford Clay as soon as possible for a free legal consultation.