Meet Kelly Burris: The Flying Lawyer who Gives Back

April 5th, 2011. By BrendaC

Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Michigan attorney Kelly Burris of Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione…

Attorney Kelly Burris: “It’s a ‘win-win’ really…I get to do something good for people and I get to fly.” 

About once a month, attorney Kelly Burris gases up her 4-seater single engine Beechcraft airplane and does a run for the Angel Flight Central organization in the US. “Let’s see,” says the easy-going, friendly and thoughtful Burris from her office at Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione, “I’ve flown breast milk, cancer patients, kids and one time I flew a hospice patient, that was a difficult one.” 

It was a flight instructor who first suggested Burris get involved with Angel Flight as a way to gather more flying hours. Angel Flight is a non-profit organization of pilots and volunteers that provides free transportation to people who need to fly for medical or legitimate charitable reasons. 

It was a good fit Burris. She’d just become a partner at the patent law firm of Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione in Ann Arbor. Her hours were flexible and Burris had the time, the money and the plane—and she loves to fly. 

“Yes, I pay for it all,” says Burris who has been a volunteer pilot with Angel Flight for the last seven years. She calculates that each run costs about $400 to $500 and she believes it is worth every minute. 

“But it’s a ‘win-win’ really,” she says. “I have always known community service is important and I have always done it.  Maybe public service should be more of a sacrifice perhaps, but it isn’t. It is just really enjoyable. I get to do something good for people and I get to fly.” 

Among her first flights was a 4-year old boy who was visually impaired. He walked out onto the tarmac and wanted to touch the plane. “He said, ‘Mommy, it is chrome, I bet it’s pretty Mom’. Burris says her heart melted. “Then he said ‘Kelly Burris, pilot, 1962, Beechcraft Debonair, is it a G-Tail or a B-Tail?” 

That little boy is now 11 and Burris has flown him and his mother many times since then. 

Burris was an engineer before she became a patent attorney. “It is all technology to me, and I love technology,” she says. Many of her clients are outside the state and she often combines work meetings with Angel Flight. “I have several clients in St. Louis, so I will look for an Angel Flight on a day I am going down there. I will swing by Chicago and pick somebody up and then drop them in Urbana at the University there and go see my client.” 

In 2009 Burris won the Air Race Classic, a 2,700-mile cross-US race, sponsored by The Ninety-Nines, a female aviators group started in 1929 by Amelia Earhart. She donated the $5,000 top prize to Angel Flight. 

Through The Ninety-Nines Burris has actually raised even more money for Angel Flight over the last several years. “The first year I was in the Air Race Classic, I thought while we are flying through all these different towns why don’t I slap the Angel Flight logo on the plane and wear my Angel Flight shirt and see if we can raise some awareness and money. My co-pilot and I have done 3 races now and raised about $50,000.”

To learn more about Angel Flight Central, please visit www.angelflightcentral.org.

Kelly Burris earned her J.D. at St. Louis University. She also holds a B.S. and M.S. in engineering. Her practice focuses on international trademark law, electrical and computer law, intellectual asset management, licensing, patents, trademarks and unfair competition. Ms. Burris, a licensed pilot since 1984, is a long-time volunteer and fundraiser for Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic and Angel Flight Central, part of the Air Charity Network. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Angel Flight Central.

Asbestos News Roundup: 3.31.11

March 31st, 2011. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of asbestos hot spots from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Charleston, WV: A widow from New Mexico has filed an asbestos claim naming 48 companies as being responsible for her husband’s lung cancer and death. Diagnosed with lung cancer on October 9, 2009, David L. Grove subsequently died on March 11, 2010.

In her suit, Nancy Stewart claims her husband was employed by Armco Steel in Ashland, KY, from 1964 until 1990. She alleges that the defendants were negligent and that the buildings her husband worked in were contaminated with asbestos. The suit claims  breach of express/implied warranty, strict liability, intentional tort, conspiracy, misrepresentations and post-sale duty to warn, according to the suit.

The 48 companies named in the suit are: 3M Company; A.K. Steel Corporation; A.W. Chesterton Company; Certainteed Corporation; Cleaver-Brooks Company, Inc.; Columbus McKinnon Corporation; Crane Co.; Dravo Corporation; Eaton Electrical, Inc.; Elliott Turbo Machinery Company; Flowserve FSD Corporation; Flowserve US, Inc.; FMC Corporation; Foseco, Inc.; Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation; General Electric Company; Goulds Pumps, Inc.; Greene Tweed & Company; Grinnell, LLC; Honeywell International; Howden North America, Inc.; IMO Industries, Inc.; Industrial Holdings Corporation; IngersoII-Rand Company; Insul Company, Inc.; ITT Corporation; McJunkin Red Man Corporation; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Morgan Engineering, Inc.; Nitro Industrial Coverings, Inc.; Oglebay Norton Company; Ohio Valley Insulating Company, Inc.; Premier Refractories, Inc.; Rapid American Corporation; Riley Power, Inc.; Rockwell Automations, Inc.; Square D Company; State Electric Supply Company; Sterling Fluid Systems (US) LLC; Tasco Insulations, Inc.; the F.D. Lawrence Electric Company; UB West Virginia, Inc.; Uniroyal, Inc.; United Engineers & Constructors, Inc.; Viacom, Inc.; Vimasco Corporation; Washington Group International; and West Virginia State Electric Supply Company. (WVRecord)

Jefferson County, TX: The widow of the late Daryl Stukey has filed an asbestos claim alleging that her husband’s lung cancer and subsequent death were caused by 21 defendant companies named in Read the rest of this entry »

Insecurities: Securities Fraud Roundup 3.30.11

March 30th, 2011. By LucyC

Top Securities Fraud Stories…

This week’s catch phrase—”False and Misleading Statements”…In our last edition of Insecurities, the recurring theme was ‘failure to disclose’—which led us to the Madoff Meter. Well, seems the idea of Bernie kind of stuck. So he’s back…

Though he never did really leave did he? Case in point, his yacht (or the ability to sell it in order to drum up some quid to help those who’d invested with him) was in today’s news—as well as the fact that three former Madoff employees lost their bid to have criminal charges dropped against them. The grounds for their request? That the charges should be dropped because the government had frozen their assets—assets they need to pay their lawyers. It didn’t fly with U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who rejected the bid.

Enough about Bernie (or, more about him later)—starting off this edition of Insecurities is Elan Corporation…

Company:        Elan Corporation

Ticker:              ELN

Class Period:     Jul-2-09 to Aug-5-09

Date Filed:        Mar-1-11

Court:               Southern District of New York

Madoff Meter: 

The Allegations:

What’s that crashing sound I hear? Elan got hit with a securities class action lawsuit earlier this month over allegations that it and certain of its officers and directors made  false and misleading statements regarding the July 2, 2009 sale of the Company’s rights to its Alzheimer Immunotherapy Program (“AIP”) to Johnson & Johnson (“JNJ”).

The allegations stem from Elan’s failure to disclose that a provision in their definitive agreement with JNJ would violate the terms of an existing agreement between the Company and Biogen Idec Inc. (“Biogen”) related to their joint development and sale of multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. Hey—maybe they just forgot about their deal with Biogen.

As a result of the violation, Elan was forced to renegotiate the terms of its sale of AIP, whereby JNJ paid $115 million less to Elan than previously agreed. Ouch.

Predictably, once Elan issued its press release disclosing the breach of their agreement with Biogen to the public, share prices of Elan common stock fell about 11%, according to the lawsuit, on abnormally high trading volume. That would make a difference to retirement funds, no doubt.

Next up: China Integrated Energy…

Company:                      China Integrated Energy, Inc.

Ticker:                           CBEH

Class Period:                  Mar-30-10 to Mar-16-11

Date Filed:                      Mar-26-11

Lead Plaintiff Deadline:  May-25-11

Court:                            Central District of California

Madoff Meter:

The Allegations:

Determining fact from fiction. This one involves China Integrated Energy—and allegations that it also issued materially false and misleading statements to investors, because it concealed related-party transactions.

The alleged facts—that the transactions between the Company and its officers and directors had the effect of funneling cash to these officers and directors. The alleged fiction—that the company’s Chinese SAIC filings misrepresented its financial performance, business prospects, and financial condition to investors.

So, the only people making the kind of money advertised were CBEH’s officers and directors. Not the investors. The alleged violations were uncovered in a report by Sinclair Upton, most of which CBEH denied. However, they did ‘fess up to having engaged in an undisclosed related party transaction with the CEO’s 22 year old son? Where’s Bernie? This could be a 3 or 4 on the Madoff meter…

On to Finisar Corporation…

Company:                     Finisar Corporation

Ticker:                           FNSR

Class Period:                  Dec-2-10 to Mar-8-11

Date Filed:                     Mar-15-11

Lead Plaintiff Deadline:    May-14-11

Court:                           Northern District of California

Madoff Meter:

The Allegations:

Was Finisar doing a little too much networking maybe? It’s also accused of issuing false and misleading statements resulting in investor losses.

Finisar provides optical subsystems and components that connect short-distance local area networks, storage area networks, longer distance metropolitan area networks, fiber-to-the-home networks, cable television networks and wide area networks. A growth industry one would figure—especially in emerging markets.

The complaint alleges that the company failed to disclose that its recent revenue growth was due to an oversupply of inventory in the market and that the Company would be unable to sustain its strong growth due to increased pricing pressures and a slowdown in business from China. As a result of defendants’ false statements, Finisar’s stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of $43.23 per share on February 14, 2011.

Then, on March 8, 2011, after the market closed, Finisar issued a press release announcing its third quarter fiscal year 2011 results—reporting earnings of $18.8 million, or $0.22 diluted earnings per share, and revenue of $263.0 million. The Company further reported its fourth quarter 2011 revenues would be in the range of $235 to $250 million, lower than analysts’ estimates. On this news, Finisar’s stock fell $15.43 per share to close at $24.61 per share on March 9, 2011, a one-day decline of nearly 39%—it went straight through the floor and kept on going…

Top Securities Settlements…

Countrywide Financial

Madoff Meter:

A couple of settlements registering on our Madoff meter this month. I’d give this first one a 5. It Read the rest of this entry »

Spring Break Munchies? Whopper Melee over Jr Whopper Delay

March 29th, 2011. By LucyC

March Madness and People Behaving Badly. Make that Very Badly…

Out of Bounds at the BK Lounge. Ok—we know that people’s attention spans appear to be getting shorter—but this is ridiculous. A 31-year old woman got so fed up with waiting to collect her order at a Burger King in Panama Beach, FL that she hopped over the counter and began attacking the counter staff. Yup. That’s really going to speed things up.

Thirty-one year old Kimesa Smith had ordered a Whopper Jr, and fries, and somehow decided that having waited for 20 minutes was just not acceptable. So, “We tore the Burger King up,” she reportedly told investigators. “I don’t play no games.” Good thing really, as she doesn’t seem to play well.

Apparently, she threw food at employees and struck workers with a jar that was on the counter and full of coins meant for charity. She also jumped onto the counter and pulled a manager’s hair.

And not to be left out—it seems some of the customers got involved as well, as a YouTube video—that’s it up top—bears witness, by throwing napkins around and even a chair. It should be mentioned that some of the patrons were in the area on Spring Break, as was Smith.

Of course the Panama City Beach police were called—having nothing better to do—and managed to get things under control. Smith was the only person charged—with misdemeanor battery. Ex post facto, she racked up additional charges of felony criminal mischief with damage exceeding $1,000, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Apparently, she said she would have gone to Taco Bell if she’d known she wasn’t going to be treated fairly—whatever that means.

I think this makes a good argument for using the drive-thru…or better yet—ordering pizza.

Maybe the “Dead” Part was Going too Far? What would you do if your 19-year old daughter Read the rest of this entry »

Texas Law Firm Responds to Legal Access Crisis for Low Income Clients

March 29th, 2011. By BrendaC

Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Texas attorney Amy Dinn of  Gardere Wynne Sewell…

Attorney Amy Dinn: “We can work out a solution and get them through the legal system, which is not intuitive.”

From one end of the country to the other, many Americans simply can’t afford access to lawyer. A study done recently by the Legal Services Corporation estimated 50 percent of the legal needs of indigent Americans who need and qualify for legal aid go unmet.

Attorney Amy Dinn, second from left, and the Pro Bono team at Gardere Wynne Sewell

And in the state of Texas, the Texas Young Lawyers Association recently reported in its newsletter that attorneys in the state are addressing less than 25 percent of the needs of low income Texans. “And there is only one legal aid lawyer for every 10,838 poor Texans,” says Amy Dinn, a lawyer from Texas’ Gardere Wynne Sewell, one of the state’s oldest and largest law firms.

“It is not only important to do pro bono work, our firm has made it a priority,” says Dinn. The Houston Bar Association recently awarded Gardere Wynne Sewell a “Star Volunteer” award for its substantial contribution to working with Texans who need—but can’t afford—access to justice.

There are so many people with legal issues and not enough money to hire a lawyer that more people than ever are trying to represent themselves in court proceedings. According to Dinn, “That can actually impede the system, they aren’t experienced in the courtroom or don’t know the law and it slows down the process.”

“So whatever firms can do, even if it is just one case a year, and even if it is a little out of their comfort zone, it is important to do it,” says Dinn.

Dinn, who is trial lawyer, comfortable with contentious and complex litigation like product liability and corporate business disputes, spends many hours helping low income Texans with everything from name changes to estate planning.

“No, it is not my practice area, but I find it really rewarding,” says Dinn.

I recently worked for a woman whose husband was in jail,” says Dinn. “They had been married for 20 or 30 years but she had not seen him for many years and it was essentially a paper marriage and she needed to extricate herself from the marriage.”

“Many people find themselves in situations that are just too complicated for them to solve by themselves. We can work out a solution and get them through the legal system, which is not intuitive.”

Dinn and a group of other lawyers from Gardere Wynne Sewell, together with the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, do no cost wills and estate planning clinics. “It is a two-day process.  We meet with the clients one day, then they come back and we draw up the will and execute it.”

“It can really make a difference in these people’s lives. Especially drawing up the wills—just the emotional comfort they get from knowing that their affairs are in order and that their family is taken care of.“

In addition, Dinn usually does four or five pro bono cases a year. “I think it pushes you in different directions professionally and it is really important to give back,” she adds.

Amy Dinn has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Dinn is a partner in the firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP. Established in 1909, the firm has offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin and Mexico City. It provides legal services to private and public companies and individuals in areas of government affairs, energy, litigation, corporate, tax, environmental, labor and employment, intellectual property and financial services.