Jay Clements has his aversion to the sight of blood – a repulsion that at one time nearly caused him to pass out – to thank for steering him toward the law.
“My family encouraged me to become a professional, whether it was a doctor or a lawyer,” the 61-year-old attorney recalls. “I sat in on a couple of surgical procedures that about made me faint – and that made the law a very nice alternative.”
By that same token, Clements’ son, attorney Drew Clements, owes his career to his father’s nausea-inducing explorations of the medical profession. As he grew up, the manner in which his dad helped beleaguered clients through his application of the law and the appreciation those people expressed made a strong impression on him, he says.
“Watching dad do his thing is a big part of why I’m sitting here today,” says Drew, 33, in a voice deep enough for singing bass in a barbershop quartet. His father smiles but says nothing, as though he’s waiting for the air in the room to stop vibrating.
“Here,” as Drew says, is Clements & Eubanks, a probate and estate planning firm located in a professional complex along Noah Reid Road in Chattanooga. The father and son duo moved into their new office only days ago and already the phone at the reception desk is keeping Cheryl Cate busy.
The pair formed the firm two years ago at Drew’s suggestion. He and his father had been practicing separately, and each of them was doing well on his own, but he liked the idea of combining their efforts and doing even better, he says.
So did Jay. Bryson Eubanks, an attorney based in the Nashville area, joined the firm as a named partner and set up shop in a second office in Mount Juliet. However, the title of the firm included only one “Clements.”
“I think you know which one,” Drew laughs.
While Clements & Eubanks butters its bread primarily through probate and estate work, both father and son bring their experience in other practice areas to their joint venture.
Jay adds asset protection trusts, conservatorships and related matters, while Drew will step outside of the firm’s core focus to assist clients with divorce and custody matters, business planning, landlord-tenant issues and personal injury needs.
Medicaid planning has also entered the domain of this varied – but not quite general – practice. Jay explains:
“There’s a need in Chattanooga for helping folks protect their assets and provide long-term care for their loved ones. Bryson came from TennCare and is an expert in it; Drew has taken up the banner and started running with it down here. We’ve already taken care of the needs of several clients.”
Caring for clients has been a hallmark of the Clements family practice since its inception as Jay’s fledgling legal career at the Chattanooga firm now known as Gearhiser, Peters, Elliott & Cannon.
Jay’s early days
Jay grew up in an Ooltewah that had not yet installed its first stop light and that lacked the traffic and commercial bustle that defines it today. His favorite watering hole was Handy Andy, a local business with one gas pump and a little store, he recalls.
Jay eventually exchanged his small-town roots for a bigger city education at McCallie, a boys school located on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga. To this day, he expresses gratitude to his parents for sending him to the college preparatory institute, saying “Mom and dad gave me the best opportunity they could.”
After graduating from McCallie, Jay attended Middle Tennessee State University, where he earned a business administration degree. He also met the woman he calls the love of his life, Lisa, at MTSU. They married during his days in law school at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
After Jay graduated from UT and passed the bar exam, he and Lisa returned to Chattanooga to work and raise a family. His first job was with Gearhiser, Peterson & Horton in 1988.
“They hired me to do the grunt work on two big cases but then settled both matters before I arrived,” Jay remembers. “When it became clear the firm didn’t have much work for me, I accepted an offer from Kennedy, Fulton & Koontz, a business bankruptcy firm with a litigator who needed help.”
During a decade of practice with Kennedy Fulton, Jay identified and began serving clients in a niche that would redefine his legal career – nursing home abuse.
“We saw horrific cases,” he says, referring to himself and an attorney outside the firm who assisted him with litigation.
“While we knew that staff were often unable to meet the needs of folks due to shortages, we were there to help the families of the residents, whether that involved making life better for their loved ones if they were still alive or helping them deal with the death of their loved ones.”
Jay says the partners at Kennedy Fulton didn’t believe nursing home abuse cases would keep him busy, but he was determined to burrow further into his niche, so he left the firm after 10 years and joined his friend in launching their own concern.
Their collaborations with families often led to ancillary work on establishing conservatorships and powers of attorney, as well as handling estate and probate matters.
“We were able to assist in various ways when a loved one had dementia, for example,” Jay says. “We could place them in a facility that would care for them and then make sure the facility was doing the right things.”
Jay now devotes the bulk of his time to estate planning and probate matters. He says it’s gratifying work.
“I loved our nursing home practice because we were able to help a lot of families. And that’s still true. We’ll do whatever we can do to assist those who are a little older than us.”
Walking in dad’s footsteps
As Jay was building his practice, a young Drew was playing baseball, spending time at the lake and going to church. His dad attended his games, joined his wife and children on the water and guided his family spiritually. Drew says those things taught him that although lawyers work long hours, they could also have a full family life.
However, when Drew first expressed an interest in the law, his father discouraged it.
“Dealing with the other side of a case in litigation can be frustrating. Then there are the long hours,” Jay says. “I said, ‘I want to make sure you really want to do this before you get into it.’”
Drew agreed to clerk for his father before committing to law school. He laughs as he confesses to not rising to the task.
“I was a lousy clerk,” he says in contrite tone.
“We kidded Drew when he answered the phone because he was very deliberate,” Jay clarifies. “He’d say, ‘Good afternoon, Clements Law,’ in a really deep voice that sounded like Lurch from “The Addams Family.’”
Despite his questionable performance as a clerk, Drew was undeterred; he wanted to become an attorney.
“I liked the prestige that comes with being a lawyer. When you help people, they respect you,” he muses. “You also need a touch of salesmanship, which I have. But what really drew me to law school were the strategic aspects of the law. I like connecting the dots in a case and being persuasive.”
Hearing this, Jay gave his son his blessing.
“When Drew said, ‘I’m going to law school,’ I said, ‘Far be it from me to say otherwise.’”
Drew graduated from Lee University with honors in political science and then graduated fourth in his class from the Nashville School of Law. After working briefly for a medical malpractice defense firm in Nashville while in school, he returned home to Chattanooga to focus on an elder law and family law practice.
Planning ahead
Like his father, Drew loves his chosen career, he says.
“I don’t have kids yet, so I can eat, drink and sleep my practice,” he declares. “My wife will say, ‘You need to stop working and come home,’ but I love it. It’s fantastic.”
Drew says he relishes not just the practice of law but also “running a business,” as he puts it. From marketing Clements & Eubanks to developing a plan for its growth – a plan that in the near future will include adding another attorney to the roster – he likes using his entrepreneurial muscles.
Jay says he’s impressed with his son’s efforts in this area.
“Drew has been an incredible agent of planning and organization. I fly by the seat of my pants, but he’s established a destination and laid out how we’re going to get there – and that’s been awesome to see. His mother instilled that in him. She’s organized to the nth degree.”
Part of Drew’s plan includes involving the firm more deeply in the community. Both men are civically minded and active volunteers outside of work, so this will be a continuation of those endeavors.
Both Jay and Drew are involved with raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association, due in no small part to how their work with the elderly has touched their hearts.
Meanwhile, Jay plans to continue being of service to Bayside Baptist Church, where he’s served as a deacon and an elder and has taught small groups since 1995, while Drew serves as section chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Elder Law Executive Council.
The youngest Clements at the firm is also “a proud member” of a local Business Network International chapter, the Chattanooga Bar Association and the Rotary Club of Chattanooga at Hamilton Place.
Believe it or not, Drew says, there’s still time for fun and games. These include family vacations with the entire Clements clan – which includes all three of Jay’s children and their families – as well as hiking and as many Atlanta Braves games as Jay and Drew can fit in. This usually amounts to three or four a season.
Drew also enjoys playing golf. After stating this, he coughs (which in his case sounds like a Big Block Chevy V8 sputtering to life) and suggests he was a better law clerk.
“I love golfing. I’m terrible, though.”
At the end of each day, however, Clements & Eubanks is as much about a father and his son building something together as it is the practice of law. With that in mind, Drew insists he’s getting the better part of the deal.
“Working with dad has been fantastic. I couldn’t ask for a better mentor.”