Shelby L Clark

Shelby Clark first came to Santa Cruz County in 1986, and has never since been able to stay away. Born in Virginia and growing up mostly there and in Connecticut, he graduated from Wooster School in Danbury, CT, and Pomona College in Claremont, CA. After working on the editorial side of book publishing in New York City, he returned to the mountains here and became a freelance writer and editor, writing for and about various businesses throughout Northern California. Shelby then attended law school at University of California – Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, graduating in 1999 in the top 5% of his class while serving on the Hastings Law Journal and in several other roles. A stint working for a large law firm convinced him that was not the right direction, and he’s found that independence and running his own business best enable him to help other people who are passionate about what they do. Thanks to love interests that exposed him to first veterinary medicine, then animal welfare and dog training, Shelby has learned much about different ways people interact with and care for the animals in their lives. He’s researched and presented on animal law issues for several years, and will be speaking about service dog law at an Illinois conference in June 2018. Shelby’s other interests include hiking, camping, downhill skiing, history, and both writing and reading science fiction and fantasy. He’s an Eagle Scout and thrilled to be married to Jen Walker, who runs the dog training business First Friends. They live among the redwoods in the mountains of Santa Cruz with three dogs and a cat.