Clay Whittaker
ATTORNEY
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me. It matters that you know who we are and what we do, and we would love to know more about you too.
I am a lifelong Floridian. I grew up in Palatka, a small town in Northeast Florida, to a family of public servants who encouraged my brother and me to consider careers that would be not only fulfilling but also improve the lives of others. My father headed a non-profit whose mission was to provide service to individuals with mental and physical handicaps. My mother assisted adults in identifying and receiving medical and mental care and treatment.
Later, I moved to nearby Gainesville, Florida, where I attended the University of Florida where I studied Construction Administration, with the idea of becoming a licensed general contractor where I could help families create their dream home. While that idea did not fade, I pivoted instead to law school, which took me to Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Florida. There, I had the idea that I could provide legal representation to general contractors rather than be one myself.
This was my life for the next 8 or so years. I achieved success as a construction attorney reaching the level of “Partner” at a large Florida state-wide law firm and achieving “Board Certification” through the State of Florida – the highest level of distinction offered for this area of law.
Life was good and my wife Cheryl and I were very happy. But felt our family was incomplete. We wanted to start a family and decided adoption was the best way to grow our family. Fast forward, we were blessed by adoption when we adopted our daughter, Sloane, and that was a turning point in our life.
While I continue to solve problems for those involved in the construction industry and get great satisfaction “litigating” those matters, I started a law firm with my wife, Gulf Coast Adoptions, PLLC, with a mission to help other potential adoptive parents grow their families through adoption. Gulf Coast Adoptions, PLLC will turn 7 years old in 2024 and we have successfully helped over a hundred families through the adoption process.
On a personal level, I gravitate toward activities that I find calming and relaxing. I am an avid Tampa Bay Ray baseball fan and I often find a way to watch, listen to – and occasionally attend in person – nearly all of each season’s 162 games. Yearly, we attempt to attend a road game to explore a new city and have new family adventures. We are also attempting to visit each state with our daughter Sloane before she graduates high school. Thus far, she has already visited 18 states, and we have plans to tackle at least two more during 2024.