Clans without protection -- depressing experiences for lairds, perhaps (10)
I believe the answer is:
landowners
'lairds perhaps' is the definition.
(laird is a kind of landowner)
'clans without protection depressing experiences' is the wordplay.
'without protection' says to take the centre (no outside letters).
'depressing experiences' becomes 'downers'.
The centre of 'clans' is 'lan'.
'lan'+'downers'='LANDOWNERS'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for landowners that I've seen before include "lairds, perhaps" , "People involved with deeds" .)