James Clayton Culotta

Clay's experience includes representing corporations and individuals in business formation, contract negotiation and dispute resolution, employer/employee relations, and private discrimination litigation, including race, age, national origin, gender, disability and §1983 actions against the government. He has extensive involvement in mediation and arbitration and has litigated at all levels of federal and state courts throughout the country.

Clay services corporate clients, providing daily legal advice and counsel. In this capacity he assists in corporate formation, prepares and reviews contracts, assists in developing and implementing employee handbooks, and he develops compliance programs and educates clients to be pro-active in their compliance responsibilities.

Through his broad experience representing individuals in the healthcare sector, he has been involved in precedent setting litigation regarding peer review and the National Practitioner Data Bank.

Representative Matters

Clay has successfully represented numerous individuals whose civil rights have been violated by law enforcement, recovering large settlements for his clients.

Clay argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, successfully against the establishment of a Medical Peer Review Privilege within the Federal Judicial system. Virmani v. Novant Health Incorporated, 259 F.3d 284; 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 17123.

Clay successfully argued that the National Practitioner Data Bank was obligated to abide by the reporting and maintaining of records requirements of the Privacy Act, in essence requiring the data bank to adhere with the policies set forth in the Federal Privacy Act. Doe v. Tommy G. Thompson, 332 F. Supp. 2d 124; 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16317.

Previous Experience

• Counsel to hundreds of individuals, entities and organizations
• Assistant Managing Attorney of prior law firm
• Special Prosecutor with the Drug Task Force for Louisiana Department of Justice
• Assistant District Attorney, St. Charles District Attorney’s Office, Louisiana

Organizations and Professional Memberships

• Member, Indiana Bar
• Member, District of Columbia Bar
• Member, Louisiana State Bar
• Member, Maryland State Bar
• Federal District Courts in Indiana, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Louisiana
• Federal Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Fifth and Tenth Circuits
• Louisiana Bar Association
• District of Columbia Bar Association

Education

• J.D., Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1993
• B.G.S., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1990