Given her long-standing family ties to the Buford community, it was perhaps inevitable that Danielle Mays would return and reestablish herself in the place where she grew up.

“I could never NOT be connected to my Buford community, even when I lived in other places like Athens, Macon, and Rome. I still hang out regularly with my friends from high school,” Mays said. “You’ll see me golf carting around downtown and eating and shopping locally because I just love this community and everything it has given to me.”

Now both a resident and a Buford “lifetimer,” having attended Buford City Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, Mays proudly calls Buford the “epicenter” of her life.

Her deep roots run through generations: her grandparents, Elinor and Herbie Wilson, graduated from Buford High School, with Elinor later serving as a principal. Her mother, Jill Anderson, and aunt, Julie McBryant, also graduated from Buford and went on to work in the district as teachers and administrators. Her father’s law firm, Chandler, Britt & Jay LLC, is located off South Lee Street — alongside Mays Law, the firm she co-owns with her husband, John Mays Jr., originally from Rome, Georgia. Mays and all four of her siblings graduated from Buford, and now her own children are continuing that tradition.

Reflecting on her time in the Buford City School System, Mays said she embraced all aspects of student life — academics, athletics, and the arts.

“I received the honor of Best All Around senior superlative, and I really think that’s because I embraced every ‘A’ in Buford’s triple A excellence. While I wanted to be athletic, I wasn’t a natural. After a failed basketball tryout in middle school and being the benchwarmer on varsity tennis as a freshman, I gave up sports with balls,” Mays said.
“I embraced the fact that I loved to dance and found my niche in cheerleading. I loved cheering on the Wolves under the Friday Night Lights and especially loved competition cheerleading. I was always in gifted classes and continued that through AP and Honors classes in high school. But the thing I loved most was the Arts. I was all about musical theater and chorus.”

Indeed, performing became one of her defining high school experiences. She starred in multiple productions, including the title role in Annie — a part she shared with one of her best friends, Amy Brown Flynn, who now oversees the Buford Community Center.

“I went on to star in several musicals, culminating with my favorite role of playing Rizzo in Grease my senior year,” Mays said. “I’m not really sure what I was known for in high school, but performing was my passion.”

After graduating as the seventh-ranked student in Buford High School’s Class of 2005, Mays attended the University of Georgia, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She then pursued her law degree at Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2012. That November, she passed the Georgia Bar and became a licensed attorney.

“I’m a trial attorney and litigator, but I also love the business side of running a law firm,” Mays said.
“Throughout my career, I’ve primarily practiced criminal defense and family law alongside my dad, Walt Britt, at Chandler, Britt & Jay. I’ve served as a defense attorney for the Gwinnett Accountability Treatment Courts for over 10 years and was President of the Gwinnett County Bar Association from 2021 to 2022.”

Since the birth of her second son in March 2022, Mays has shifted her focus from client representation to managing her husband’s law firm, Mays Law, which handles personal injury, workers’ compensation, and wrongful death cases.

Looking back, Mays credits her Buford experiences — especially the balance between academic rigor and creative expression — with shaping her legal career.

“I have the brains to strategically litigate the most challenging cases, but I can also turn on my performance gear in the courtroom to make my audience — the judge or jury — feel everything I want them to feel for my client,” she said.
“I love that I can primarily focus on the business side of Mays Law, but also step in when needed, put on my ‘attorney hat,’ and litigate against insurance companies for our clients. Being a self-employed attorney practicing with my husband is amazing — it gives me the flexibility I need to be an involved mom to young kids while still continuing to grow as a trial attorney and business owner.”

Mays’s dedication to Buford extends well beyond her legal career. Whether she’s spending time with her two young sons, John Walt and Dempsey, enjoying a yoga class, or browsing antique stores, she remains deeply rooted in the community that shaped her. That same love for Buford drives her desire to give back in meaningful ways.

“Mays Law makes it our priority to give back to the community,” she said.
“We love supporting the Jambos organization, the Buford Middle School car show, buying breakfast for the elementary school teachers … just anything we can do to give back to Buford.”