Biography

The Hon. Jason Anthony Clay is a judge for the Alameda County Superior Court in California. He was appointed to the bench by former governor Jerry Brown in 2018. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Willie Lott, Jr. (Ret.).

He is registered without party preference.

Judge Clay graduated with his B.S. in business from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. He went on to earn his J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School in 1994.

After law school, Clay joined the Alameda County Public Defender's Office, where he worked as a deputy public defender for eleven years.

He left the public sector in 2006, to become a sole practitioner, where he would practice for two years until co-founding the firm Clay and Bowen LLP in 2008. While in private practice, Clay specialized in criminal defense, civil rights litigation, and personal injury matters.

He left private practice in 2013, to serve as a court commissioner for the Alameda County Superior Court, a position he would hold until his appointment to the bench in 2018.

His memberships have included the California Association of Black Lawyers, the Earl Warren American Inn of Court, the Solano County Bar Association, the Charles Houston Bar Association, and the Alameda County Bar Association.

Clay received the Unity Award from the Minority Bar Coalition in 2011 and the President's Award from the Charles Houston Bar Association in 2010.

While on the bench, Judge Clay has presided over a family law calendar at the Hayward Hall of Justice.