Congratulations to Luckenbach for protecting its mark before a jury in federal court.

Karen Burgess joined author/NYT reporter Elizabeth Williamson and attorney Monte Frank in a block of presentations entitled “Sandy Hook, the Battle for Truth, and the Fabric of our American Society” on June 13th at 2022 Connecticut Legal Conference. In this session, Karen spoke to the broader implications of the rise of misinformation in our society and the lawyer’s duty to uphold and protect the rule of law and our legal institutions.

Last week Elizabeth was in Austin for the Alex Jones trial. She quoted Karen in her New York Times article, “Lies for Profit: Can Sandy Hook Parents Shut Alex Jones Down?” The article can be found here.

Karen Burgess was honored to deliver the Dean’s Address as Dean of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in LA. Video of the Address, entitled Truth or Consequence: Protecting Justice and the Rule of Law Against a Crisis of Deception, can be found here.

Karen Burgess lectured on direct examination as a faculty member for the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Boot Camp for the Houston Young Lawyers Association.

The International Academy of Trial Lawyers named Karen C. Burgess Vice President at its 2022 Annual Meeting in Beverly Hills, CA.

IATL was founded in 1954. It is an international legal association both in spirit and membership. The Academy limits Fellowship to 500 active trial lawyers from the United States and includes over 150 Fellows from nearly 40 countries across the globe. The Academy’s dedicated leadership includes its volunteer Executive Committee and its volunteer Board.

2021 Top 100 Texas Super Lawyers®
2021 Top 50 Women Texas Super Lawyers®
2021 Top 50 Central/West Texas Super Lawyers®

Karen C. Burgess is recognized in Thomson Reuters’ 2021 Top 50 Women list of Texas Super Lawyers. She is also recognized as a 2021 Top 50 Central/West Texas Super Lawyer and Top 100 list of Texas Super Lawyers.

Karen was first named a Rising Star by Thomson Reuters in 2004 and first named a Super Lawyer in 2012. She made the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers List in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020 and Top 50 Central/West Texas Lists in 2014 – 2016 and 2018 – 2020.

Super Lawyers® is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The Texas Super Lawyers list is made up of fewer than five percent of all Texas attorneys.

The Super Lawyers annual Top Lists are reserved for those few lawyers who receive the highest point totals in the Texas nomination, research and blue ribbon selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research with candidates evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.

Karen C. Burgess has once again been selected by her peers for inclusion in the 28th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America for her work in commercial litigation. She has been named annually since 2017. This is the second year her firm, Burgess Law PC, was included in the 10th Edition of Best Law Firms.

2020 Top 50 Women Super Lawyers®
2020 Top 50 Central/West Texas Super Lawyers®

Karen C. Burgess is recognized in Thomson Reuters’ 2020 Top 50 Women List of Texas Super Lawyers. She is also a 2020 Top 50 Central/West Texas Super Lawyer. Karen was first named a Rising Star by Thomson Reuters in 2004 and first named a Super Lawyer in 2012. She made the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers List in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020 and Top 50 Central/West Texas Lists in 2014 – 2016 and 2018 – 2020.

Super Lawyers® is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The Texas Super Lawyers list is made up of fewer than five percent of all Texas attorneys.

The Super Lawyers annual Top Lists are reserved for those few lawyers who receive the highest point totals in the Texas nomination, research and blue ribbon selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research with candidates evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.

Enjoyed Co-Chairing Page Keeton Civil Litigation Conference with friends/law school classmates Frank Guerra and Mike Oldham.

Eric Nichols (Barbara Jordan Inn) and Karen Burgess (Lloyd Lochridge Inn) attended a dinner at the United States Supreme Court Saturday to accept platinum designations for their respective Inns.

(From left to right: Professor Constanza Tobar, Fred Cunningham, Brian Gover, Karen Burgess, President Iván Aróstica Maldonado, Stanley Garnett, Sean Domnick and Jane Rydholm)

Last week Karen Burgess joined a delegation from The International Academy of Trial Lawyers in Buenos Aires and Santiago to collaborate with lawyers and judges from those regions. Along with many other notable individuals, the group met with the Deputy Chief Justice of Argentina’s Supreme Court, Elena Highton de Nolasco, and with the President of Chile’s Constitutional Court, Iván Aróstica Maldonado.  https://www.tribunalconstitucional.cl/delegacion-de-international-academia-of-trial-lawyers-iatl-visito-el-tribunal-constitucional.

The International Academy of Trial Lawyers was founded in 1954. It is an international legal association both in spirit and membership. The Academy limits Fellowship to 500 active trial lawyers from the United States and includes over 150 Fellows from nearly 40 countries across the globe.  

• 2019 Top 100 Texas Super Lawyers^®
• 2019 Top 50 Women Texas Super Lawyers^®
• 2019 Top 50 Central/West Texas Super Lawyers^®

Karen C. Burgess is recognized in Thomson Reuters’ 2019 Top 100 List of Texas Super Lawyers.  She is also a 2019 Top 50 Women Texas Super Lawyer and a 2019 Top 50 Central/West Texas Texas Super Lawyer.  Karen was first named a Rising Star by Thomson Reuters in 2004 and first named a Super Lawyer in 2012.  She made the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers List in 2014 and 2016 and Top 50 Central/West Texas Lists in 2014-2016 and 2018.

Super Lawyers® is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The Texas Super Lawyers list is made up of fewer than five percent of all Texas attorneys.

The Super Lawyers annual Top Lists are reserved for those few lawyers who receive the highest point totals in the Texas nomination, research and blue ribbon selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research with candidates evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.

Karen C. Burgess has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the 26th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. She was previously named in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2020 her firm, Burgess Law PC, was included in the 10th Edition of Best Law Firms.

Karen C. Burgess presented on the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act at Texas Bar CLE‘s 42nd Annual Advanced Civil Trial Course at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort in San Antonio. Co-author Stacy Rogers Sharp was on site to help answer questions from audience members before they both took kids to the lazy river. Shannon Hutcheson is a co-author of the paper.

The State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting took place in Austin on June 13^th through the 14^th, celebrating the 80^th anniversary of the State Bar’s creation in 1939, which granted Texas lawyers the privilege of self-governance that continues to this day.

Co-Chair Karen C. Burgess introduced keynote addresses by two notable speakers: iconic newsman Dan Rather, and award-winning author and reporter Wil Haygood.

Watch the keynote addresses here:

Bar Leaders Recognition Luncheon with Dan Rather

Bench Bar Breakfast with Wil Hayward

General Session Key Note Address by Asha Rangappa

The Commercial Bar Association’s 30^th North American Meeting was held in New Orleans this past May. COMBAR was honored by the attendance of the Hon. Mr. Justice Teare (Judge in charge of the Commercial Court in London), Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart (Chief United States Circuit Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) and to be welcomed by Judy Perry Martinez (President-Elect of the American Bar Association).

This year’s event also held a special place for Karen C. Burgess as she accepted COMBAR’s invitation for Honorary Overseas Membership of the Commercial Bar Association in England. Honorary Overseas Members are leading commercial advocates who who help study areas of common interest in commercial law and help foster and strengthen relations among lawyers across jurisdictions.

COMBAR was set up in July 1989 by the primary barristers’ chambers in London whose members specialize in commercial law.

Karen C. Burgess was re-appointed as Secretary-Treasurer for the International Academy of Trial Lawyers at its 2019 Annual Meeting in London held on Saturday, April 13.

IATL was founded in 1954. It is an international legal association both in spirit and membership. The Academy limits Fellowship to 500 active trial lawyers from the United States and includes over 150 Fellows from nearly 40 countries across the globe. The Academy’s dedicated leadership includes its volunteer Executive Committee and its volunteer Board.

(Listed in Photo: Casey Dobson, Steve McConnico, Karen C. Burgess and Randy Howry of Austin attend the Induction Ceremony at the 2019 Spring Meeting of the ACTL.)

Atwood & Burgess among first Austin women inductees.
Missy K. Atwood, Karen C. Burgess and Casey Dobson have become Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal associations in North America. The three Austinites were recognized by the president, Jeffrey S. Leon, along with the Executive Committee and Board of Regents at the Induction Ceremony at the 2019 Spring Meeting of the College in La Quinta, California on Saturday. Burgess and Atwood join existing Fellow, Jerry Clements, as the first Austin women inducted into the exclusive litigation organization.

The weekend included presentations from Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Canadian Supreme Court, award-winning journalist Jeff Greenfield, former head of the DEA Chuck Rosenberg, the Griffin Bell Award for Courageous Advocacy recipient, Stephen B. Bright, and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was honorarily inducted after his remarks to the group in La Quinta. 

Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship.

Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. There are currently approximately 5,800 members in the United States and Canada, including active Fellows, Emeritus Fellows, Judicial Fellows (those who ascended to the bench after their induction) and Honorary Fellows. The College   maintains and seeks to improve the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice through education and public statements on independence of the judiciary, trial by jury, respect for the rule of law, access to justice, and fair and just representation of all parties to legal proceedings. The College is thus able to speak with a balanced voice on important issues affecting the legal profession and the administration of justice.

Missy K. Atwood is a Principal at Germer Attorneys at Law and has over 27 years of experience in Austin. Missy is an alumna of Baylor University School of Law. For more information on Missy, visit her bio online at www.germer.com/attorneys/missy-k-atwood.

Karen C. Burgess is the Principal Attorney at Burgess Law and has been practicing in Austin for more than 22 years. Karen is an alumna of University of Texas School of Law. For more information on Karen, visit her online bio at burgesslawpc.com/karen-burgess.

Casey Dobson is Partner at Scott Douglas & McConnico and has been practicing in Austin for more than 33 years. Casey is an alumnus of University of Texas School of Law. For more information on Casey, visit his online bio at www.scottdoug.com/lawyers/casey-dobson.

The University of Texas School of Law’s The Review of Litigation invited Karen Burgess to present “Building Your Trial Plan” on March 8 at its Young Litigator’s Practicum.

The American Law Institute has just announced their newly elected members, including Karen Burgess.  The Institute elects  “eminent judges, lawyers, and law professors from all areas of the United States and from many foreign countries, selected on the basis of professional achievement and demonstrated interest in improving the law.”  The Institute’s mission is to “to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work.”

Karen Burgess and Michael Oldham co-chaired this year’s Page Keeton Civil Litigation Conference, which provides litigators with advanced updates in the law as well as advocacy strategies. Karen also served as a presiding officer of the seminar and presented on Evidence and Discovery Strategies in Responsible Third Party Practice.

The International Society of Barristers named Karen C. Burgess a North American Fellow.

The International Society of Barristers gathers advocates of exceptional talent whose qualities—including integrity, honor, and collegiality—embody the spirit of the true professional. The Society is dedicated to preserving trial by jury, the adversary system and an independent judiciary.

On Saturday, October 13 of 2018, the National Board ABOTA of the American Board of Trail Advocates re-elected Karen C. Burgess as its National Treasurer.

ABOTA is a nationwide organization of over 7,700 skilled practicing trial attorneys who care passionately about the American trial system.

On October 18, Karen Burgess served on a panel for the Austin Bar Association’s 14th Annual Ultimate Trial Notebook seminar alongside Shannon Ratliff, Stefanie Scott Shah and Marisa Secco. The four discussed Real Trial Experience in the Age of the Vanishing Jury Trial: Mentors and Opportunities.

On Tuesday, September 18, 2018, the Lloyd Lochridge American Inn of Court named Karen C. Burgess as its President.

The American Inns of Court is dedicated to professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. The American Inns of Court inspire the legal community to advance the rule of law by achieving the highest level of professionalism through example, education and mentoring.

On September 26, Karen Burgess presented to the TexasBarCLE’s 10th Annual Business Disputes Course in Austin on the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act and Extraordinary Remedies.  Because Jason Snell is trying a case this week, Karen also pinch hit to moderate a panel presentation discussion on the Texas Citizens Participation Act, with panelists Justice Bob H. Pemberton of the Third Court of Appeals, Peter Kennedy of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody and Amanda Taylor of Beck Redden LLP.

Karen Burgess co-chaired ABOTA’s James Otis Lecture Series at the Texas Capitol.

The Dallas Bar Association’s Trial Skills Section invited Karen Burgess to present “Building Your Trial Plan” on September 14.

The University of Texas Alumni Association Announces the 2018 Alumni Award Honorees – Karen C. Burgess ’96 will be awarded Alumni Mentor of the Year. Read more about Karen’s professional experience as well as her support of the community.

Karen C. Burgess was one of the highly experienced trial lawyers at the recent ABOTA National Trial College at Yale Law School, from June 10th to the 15th. This five-day event provided intensive training from many accomplished trial lawyers from all over the nation who met to help Yale Law students learn and perfect trial preparation and all aspects of civil jury trials.

Karen C. Burgess has been a speaker at Baylor Law School for the third annual Legal Map Maker™ Program.

The speaker series was held in Waco, Texas, August 15th thru the 17th, 2018.

At the ABOTA national board meeting in Nashville last week, Karen C. Burgess co-moderated a panel of judges and actual jurors at the National Jury Summit.

Additionally, California lawyer, Mark Robinson, nominated Karen C. Burgess to serve as treasurer of the national organization, and she was elected by the board of directors.

With a membership of 7,500 experienced attorneys, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in civil cases, ABOTA works to promote constitutional rights, in particular the Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury.

Lawdragon has named Karen C. Burgess as one of The Leading Lawyers in America for 2016.

Karen C. Burgess has been appointed to serve on the National Board of Directors of The American Board of Trial Advocates by its President, Joel Collins. (January 2015)

Karen C. Burgess served as co-chair and emcee of the Austin Bar Association’s Bench Bar conference on April 4, 2014.  Many thanks to the Austin Bar Association, and the judges and lawyers who made the day a big success.

On April 3, 2014, Karen C. Burgess presented on trade secrets at the annual IP conference in Washington, DC, alongside Moderator Robert Milligan of Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Bruce Pixley, former law enforcement officer and current forensic examiner; and Luke Dembosky, Deputy Chief for Litigation of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

Karen C. Burgess is selected Litigation Attorney of the Year by the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association and Foundation.

The TCWLA describes its awards this way: “The award recipients, who are nominated by their peers, show their merit in their work, their volunteer activities and the atmosphere they create in the workplace. The criteria for consideration are that the person practice law in Travis County and serve the local community in some fashion. The nominees need not be members of TCWLA. The awards are presented at the annual TCWLA – TCWLF charity awards luncheon held in late Spring of each year, which is a joyful celebration of the achievements of TCWLA and members of the legal profession during the preceding year…”   (2012 Attorney Award Winners)

Karen C. Burgess has recently been honored as one of Texas Lawyer’s 20 Winning Women at a luncheon at the Barr Mansion in Dallas. According to the Texas Lawyer, the editorial department chose “20 Lone Star State litigators and appellate attorneys” “who have achieved significant recent victories as well as displayed a track record of wins in which they prevailed in high-stakes cases; won large monetary awards; successfully defended against actions seeking substantial damages; handled first-of-their-kind or bet-the-company cases; or claimed victory in cases that had a national or statewide impact.