MEET CLINT
Clint Conner was born in St. Louis Park in 1974. Afterwards, his father finished a military career as an officer with the Air Force and started a career with the federal government. The job took Clint’s family on a long, winding road through enemy territory in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. But regardless of whether they were living in Packers, Bears, or Lions country, Clint and his family always looked forward to their trips back “home” to their bigger Minnesota family. (Don’t worry - Clint is a diehard Vikings and Twins fan.)
After graduating from the University of Michigan, Clint worked as an engineer in the Chicago area. There, he met and got married to the love of his life, Christine. The pair then embarked on a journey through North Carolina, New York City, Silicon Valley, and Tokyo. The journey involved Clint attending law school, building a reputation as a top litigator for two of the most prestigious law firms in the world, and becoming a father to three beautiful girls.
Throughout their journey, with stubborn persistence, Clint plugged the virtues of Minneapolis to Southern California-raised Christine. In 2013, the family of five put down roots in the city, less than three miles from the heart of our beautiful downtown. Clint joined the law firm Dorsey & Whitney, where he received national and international recognition for his work leading teams in high-profile patent litigation.
While Clint and his family have thrived in Minneapolis, he has been extremely troubled by the lack of shared prosperity in our city and dedicated as much time as his job would allow to providing legal services for those in Minneapolis who could not afford it.
His work on behalf of low-income tenants has been recognized by the Minnesota Supreme Court, the City of Minneapolis, and the legal aid organization Volunteer Lawyers Network, which named Clint VLN Volunteer of the Year.
Clint had the honor of working beside former Vice President Walter Mondale in the fight against the Trump Administration’s attempt to eliminate funding for the Legal Services Corporation, a federal nonprofit that helps provide high-quality legal assistance to nearly 2 million Americans, including some 45,000 Minnesotans annually.
In 2017, Clint provided powerful testimony to the Minnesota House of Representatives in an effort to stop bills proposed by the GOP that would have drastically increased penalties for peaceful protesters. The bills subsequently failed to gain enough votes to pass.
In 2020, Clint received his firm’s Scales of Justice Award for helping persuade the Minnesota Supreme Court to, for the first time, recognize a common-law prohibition on retaliatory evictions against tenants who complain about substandard living conditions.
And for the last two federal elections, Clint helped lead hundreds of Election Protection hotline volunteers working to ensure that every voter’s right to participate in the democratic process was protected.
Clint has also been active in his community outside of the legal world. He served on the board of the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association, volunteered in a parent-driven program to help educate local elementary students in math, and has served on the boards of Global Minnesota and the Japan America Society of Minnesota, two organizations seeking to create economic and social bridges between Minnesota and foreign countries.
Clint, Christine, and their three girls, ages 16, 14, and 11, live in the Lowry Hill neighborhood.