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For years, Maureen Brunt Clark \u201912 gave a lot of time to the sport of curling. When her competitive curling days ended and she enrolled at William Mitchell in 2009, all that practice time on the ice shifted to study time in the library.<\/p>\nFor years, Maureen Brunt Clark \u201912 gave a lot of time to the sport of curling. When her competitive curling days ended and she enrolled at William Mitchell in 2009, all that practice time on the ice shifted to study time in the library.<\/p>\n
Clark came to law school as an Olympian, having competed in Italy in 2006 on the U.S. women\u2019s curling team. Since earning her J.D. from what is now Mitchell Hamline School of Law, she\u2019s become a vice president and senior corporate counsel for U.S. Bank in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
With the world\u2019s attention again on the sport, Clark finds herself an ambassador for curling, encouraging anyone who\u2019s intrigued by it to try it out.<\/p>\n
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Maureen Brunt Clark ’12, competing in the 2006 Olympics in Italy (submitted photo)<\/p><\/div>\n
She grew up in Wisconsin and started curling at age six, then competitively as a teenager. \u201cCurling was a family event,\u201d she told the ABA Journal in a recent interview. \u201cEveryone in my hometown knew what curling was. Not only did my high school have a curling team, but it was offered as part of physical education class in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n
She won several state and national championships in high school and continued competing while attending the University of Wisconsin. In February 2005, her team qualified for the Olympics with their first-place finish at the Olympic trials, which were held in Wisconsin that year. The following month, her team won silver at the world championships in Scotland.<\/p>\n
At the 2006 Olympics, Team USA finished in eighth place, but Clark has fond memories of the trip. After failing to qualify for the 2010 Games, she opted for law school. She told the ABA Journal she was motivated by a lifelong love for reading and learning.<\/p>\n
By the end of her first year at Mitchell, Clark was struck by some of the similarities between competitive curling and law school. \u201cPeople new to curling might see people just sliding and sweeping on ice,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the goal is to slide those stones in a way that places them in a precise spot.<\/p>\n
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Maureen Clark ’12 and her husband Jason<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an underappreciated mental focus needed for curling that definitely was helpful for law school.”<\/p>\n
Clark also recalls the bonds she formed with the classmates in her section as comparable to being on a team. \u201cNo matter what happens in the future, we had all survived the same experience together [the first year of law school],\u201d she said. \u201cIn a much deeper way, that\u2019s what happens with your team over the years after you travel together, eat meals together, and work to achieve the same goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark, 39, also noted an important curling lesson for attorneys. \u201cThe tiniest wobble can make a huge difference in curling,\u201d she told ABA Journal. \u201cHow you speak to a client or draft a contract also requires a lot of precision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more about Clark\u2019s Olympic experience in this ABA Journal article<\/a><\/p>\n