An attorney for the prestigious Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice Greenville office, Clinkscale has expertise in areas of business litigation, commercial litigation, employment litigation and defense of class actions and mult-district litigation. He has also served as counsel for former South Carolina Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Robert J. Sheehan and as a law clerk for the Honorable Matthew J. Perry, U.S. Judge for the District of South Carolina.

Clinkscale often takes his arguments outside of the courtroom, pushing for improved conditions for youth at the area Phillis Wheatley Center, where he is the president of the Board. In his capacity at Phillis Wheatley, he hopes to influence the growth of young people. He also hopes to ensure the Center is able to do more for people in 2007 by building a more solid financial foundation.

In Greenville County, Clinkscale also holds leadership positions as chair of the Greenville Area Development Corporation, past executive committee for the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, executive committee for the Duke University Law School Board of Visitors, chair of the Womble Carlyle Diversity Committee, general counsel and member of board of directors for the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, member of the United Way Alexis de Tocqueville Society, member of the African-American Council of the United Way, member of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness and member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Additionally, he has served as past president for the Greenville County Bar Association, past chair of the South Carolina Bar Trial and Appellate Advocacy Committee and past chair of the Greenville Hospital System Foundation Board of Directors.

Clinkscale received a B.A. in Political Science at Duke University and his J.D. at Duke University School of Law. Shortly after, he was admitted to the South Carolina bar association.

He chose a legal career because he feels that the law is a way to change society. Also, Clinkscale states that lawyers have always been at the forefront of change.

"Law is a profession built to help society to progress," adds Clinkscale.

In one of his most involved hobbies, work with the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Clinkscale will help make this same dream a reality for an African-American student in the Upstate. The scholarship was created to assist students in attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities, where they can major in and enter a career area to create similar change in their community.