CLEMSON CITY ATTORNEY FEATURED SPEAKER AT JULY 9 MEETING

On Wednesday, July 9, we’re delighted to have Clemson City Attorney Kay Barrett speak to our Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime about the challenges of a city attorney.

*** PLEASE NOTE. Since our normal meeting date of the first Thursday fell
on July 3rd, we changed the meeting date for this month
to accommodate people with Fourth of July holiday plans.***

Kay Barrett has served as the Clemson City Attorney since 1995. Her duties include prosecuting all of the City's jury trials and helping the City resolve minor legal problems. At the meeting, Barrett will describe how she prepares for trials, and what factors into decisions to offer and accept plea bargains. She’ll also share her thoughts about small city crime trends and discuss the types of cases she handles, including ones unique to a college town.

The monthly Sisters in Crime meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9, at The Runway Café, 21 Airport Rd, Greenville, S.C. Be there at 6:15 p.m. to meet Barrett and enjoy the chapter fellowship. Supper should be served at 6:30. Barrett’s presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Both the dinner and the meeting are open to the public.

In order for the Runway Café to speed service, dinner orders must be emailed to Ellis Vidler by noon the day of the meeting. If you can't eat, we would still like to know you plan to attend so we can be sure to have you a seat. To see the special menu for our group, please visit our website— www.sincupstatesc.blogspot.com —and click on the Advance Order Menu tab at right.  If you place an order and do not attend or fail to cancel by noon, you will be charged for the meal. And like always, we'll enjoy it.

An Atlanta native, Barrett majored in history at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia and spent her junior year at the University of London, specializing in Shakespeare.  After receiving a Master’s Degree in history from Duke University, she taught junior high school for five years before entering law school at George Washington National Law Center in Washington, DC. She was admitted to the bar in July 1977, five days before her first son was born.  

Barrett has lived in Connecticut, Lost Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Boston in addition to spending a year in Guatemala. When her three children were young, she did volunteer community and political work. The family moved to Clemson in 1986. She has owned her own law practice since 1977, and began practicing in earnest after a 1990 divorce.   

Real estate and wills were an early focus since the time requirements provided the flexibility to handle parenting duties. As her children went off to college, she worked longer and longer hours at her private practice and signed on as the Clemson City Attorney.

In 2010, she closed her private practice but continued as Clemson City Attorney. She loves sports, plays a lot of tennis, and still finds time to hike, read, play bridge, and enjoy plays and concerts. She goes on a  two- to three-week trip three of four times a year. Her recent travels have included Southeast Asia, Costa Rica, Turkey, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, Ecuador and Peru.