Bernie Burk, Law Professor, Studies the Changing Ethics of Legal Practice and Education

Bernie Burk is a law professor whose work focuses on how legal ethics evolve under modern professional pressure. His teaching, writing, and public commentary examine how changes in technology, market structure, and institutional incentives affect professional responsibility across the legal system.

As a law professor, Burk has taught professional responsibility at multiple U.S. law schools, including the University of North Carolina School of Law, Penn State Law, Seattle University School of Law, the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, and Campbell University's Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. These courses place ethical rules in practical context, linking doctrine to real decision making inside law firms, courts, and public institutions.

Burk's academic work reflects a long view of the profession. His scholarship addresses how economic forces shape lawyer behavior, firm structure, and legal education outcomes. His articles on the legal job market and law firm economics have reached wide audiences across legal and interdisciplinary research networks. These studies analyze structural incentives rather than individual misconduct, offering insight into how systems influence professional norms.

This systems based approach also appears in Burk's work as a textbook author. He is a co-author of Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned, a professional responsibility casebook published by Wolters Kluwer Aspen Press. The book examines ethical challenges facing lawyers in contemporary practice, including conflicts of interest, confidentiality, malpractice exposure, and professional discipline. A second edition is scheduled for release in May 2025, reflecting continued developments in regulation, technology, and legal practice models.

Before entering academia, Burk spent more than two decades in private practice as a litigator and ethics counsel in San Francisco. He served as a director and shareholder at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk, where he chaired the firm's professional responsibility function for over fifteen years. His work focused on attorney conduct, legal malpractice, and compliance with ethical standards. This background informs his perspective as a law professor studying how ethical rules function under real operational pressure.

Burk's engagement with evolving ethics issues extends beyond teaching and writing. He has served as outside ethics counsel for California Rural Legal Assistance, advising on professional responsibility matters affecting legal aid delivery and client confidentiality. He has also worked as an expert witness and consultant in cases involving allegations of attorney misconduct, conflicts of interest, and standards of care. These roles reinforce his focus on accountability at both individual and institutional levels.

Public speaking forms another core part of Burk's work. He has presented at judicial conferences, bar association programs, law school symposia, and continuing legal education events across the country. His talks address malpractice prevention, ethics in technology, conflicts of interest, and the future of legal education. He has also participated in multiple legal ethics podcast series produced by Wolters Kluwer, Financial Poise, and other continuing education providers.

As a law professor, Burk also contributes to public discussion through legal commentary. Since 2011, he has written for The Faculty Lounge, where he analyzes developments in legal education, faculty governance, professional norms, and institutional change. This writing translates academic research into accessible analysis for educators, practitioners, and policymakers.

Across teaching, scholarship, and public engagement, Bernie Burk examines how legal ethics adapt to structural change. His work focuses on incentives, accountability, and professional standards rather than abstract theory alone. As a law professor, he continues to study how the legal profession responds to modern pressures, with attention to clarity, discipline, and ethical judgment in both education and practice.

Bernie Burk
522. W Riverside Ave, Ste 6961, Spokane, WA 99201
https://www.bernieburklawprofessor.com

Bernie Burk is a law professor focused on legal ethics, professional responsibility, and the structure of legal education.

He has taught at multiple U.S. law schools, including the University of North Carolina School of Law, Penn State Law, Seattle University School of Law, and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. His courses include professional responsibility, civil procedure, remedies, contracts, and conflicts of laws.

Burk is co-author of Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned, a professional responsibility textbook published by Wolters Kluwer Aspen Press, with a second edition scheduled for release in May 2025. His scholarship examines how ethics, economics, and institutional incentives shape the legal profession.

This release was published on openPR.