b y sus a n c a r i n i 0 4 G ph oto s b y S c ott Rudd
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that Stephen Kunen 11L has not followed the yellow brick road to this point in his career. For starters, there is a cage, the sort in which mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters compete. Then, alongside a typical lawyer-in-suit photo is another of him in a T-shirt, shiny with sweat, his jiu-jitsu belt draped over his shoulders. Let’s call that gritty. And “gritty” says a lot about Kunen’s career thus far. That quality carved out a place for him in the profession, and it keeps him atop his game as a blue belt in jiu-jitsu. Kunen is a combat sports attorney practicing in the New York City area. For those itching to Google this curiosity, keep reading; Kunen’s career provides the best definition out there. Kunen practices in the world of MMA, which is the fastest-growing sport in the world, boasting a fan base of 65 million and nipping at the heels of hockey’s popularity in the United States.
One look at his website tells the story
Unexpected career shift Combat sports law isn’t where Kunen set out to be. After spending two years as a paralegal for an intellectual property (IP) firm, he had imagined a career doing similar work for a prestigious firm. He had expected a smooth ride. But his growing interest in martial arts, coupled with the recession, changed everything, and he changed with it. As a neuroscience undergraduate at Columbia University, Kunen fell in love with the martial arts, specifically Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu—a martial art, combat sport, and selfdefense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. Part of its appeal to Kunen—who was president of Columbia’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club—is that its methods allow a physically small or weak individual a means of defending against a larger and stronger attacker by maximizing leverage.
E m o r y L aw y e r Fa l l 2 0 1 3
extreme moves
Kicking from the hip
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