Joyce Leary Clark, the owner of Scarborough Legal Center, grew up on a small dairy farm
in Saco. She graduated from Thornton Academy in 1981, and received her A.B. degree from Harvard University
in 1985. After working for Harvard University and Fidelity Investments after college, Joyce returned to Maine.
She received her J.D. degree from the University of Maine School of Law in 1990.
The
week she graduated from law school, Joyce began her legal career at Picher & Barrett in Scarborough, which later became
Picher & Associates. Upon the death of the firm's owner, Frank Picher, in 1996, Joyce became a sole practitioner.
In 2002, she worked as Staff Attorney for Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Maine, concentrating in consumer bankruptcy
practice, but she returned to private practice in 2003.
Joyce is an active
member and past president of the Kiwanis Club of Scarborough, and also a member and past secretary of the Saco Valley
Land Trust. She has interviewed local high school students for the Harvard Club of Maine since 1993. She has represented
many pro bono clients through the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, and also currently represents clients through
Pine Tree Legal Assistance's MASH (Maine Attorneys Saving Homes) program.
Joyce
and her husband, Edward Clark, also a Saco native, live in Portland with their children, Emma and Henry.
