Robert Burns

Professor of Law

Phone: (312) 503-6613
E-mail: r-burns@law.northwestern.edu

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Related Links: Center for Legal Studies

Robert Burns is Professor of Law and teaches in the Northwestern Program on Advocacy and Professionalism. He teaches courses in evidence, civil procedure, criminal procedure, administrative procedure, and professional responsibility. In 1996, 1998, and 2002 he was voted the Robert Childress Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. He has been voted the Outstanding Professor of a Small Class and received a Dean’s Teaching Award. He has been both the Perkins-Bauer Teaching Professor and the Stanford Clinton, Sr. Research Professor. He is author of A Theory of the Trial (Princeton); student texts in Professional Responsibility, Trial Advocacy, and Evidence; and numerous essays and articles in books, law reviews, and other journals.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Trial Advocacy
Legal Ethics
Evidence

Jurisprudence
Procedure

COURSES

PUBLICATIONS

Representative Publications

A THEORY OF THE TRIAL, Princeton, 1999
PROBLEMS & MATERIALS IN EVIDENCE & TRIAL ADVOCACY, NITA, 2004
EXERCISES & PROBLEMS IN PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, NITA, 2001
Some Ethical Issues Surrounding Mediation, Fordham Law Review, 2001
The Lawfulness of the American Trial, American Criminal Law Review 2001

Recent Publications

On the Foundations and Nature of Morality , HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY , 2008
Some Philosophical Resources for the Study of Truth Practices in the American Trial, The Role of Social Science in Law, 2008
The Rule of Law in the Trial Court , DEPAUL LAW REVIEW, 2007
A Jury Between Fact and Norm , CHICAGO-KENT LAW REVIEW, 2007
The Practice of Law in the Peaceable Kingdom , GEORGIA LAW REVIEW , 2007

View more publications by Robert Burns

EDUCATION

AB magna cum laude, Fordham University
JD, University of Chicago
PhD with honors, University of Chicago

PRIOR APPOINTMENTS

Stanford Clinton Sr. Research Professor, 1991-92
Perkins-Bauer Teaching Professor of Law, 1988-89
Associate Professor of Law, 1980-83
General Counsel, Illinois Legislative Commission to Revise the Public Aid Code, 1979-80
Staff Attorney, Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, 1974-79

RECENT CONSULTING ACTIVITIES

Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago
Dewey Ballantine
Jenner & Block