Brian A. Burns is a member of the Litigation Department and the Distressed Real Estate Practice Group. Mr. Burns has litigated a variety of complex commercial cases through trial and appeal. His cases have included disputes about mergers and acquisitions, stock offerings, joint ventures, and preliminary agreements. Mr. Burns has defended directors and officers against malfeasance claims, and represented corporations against alter ego claims. He has prosecuted insurance coverage claims for environmental liabilities and the defense of directors and officers. His subject matter expertise includes real estate, financial advisory services, distressed assets, telecommunications, Internet, and wind energy. Mr. Burns has successfully represented clients in high-stakes cases, including a $7.65 billion proceeding relating to the proposed initial public offering of a corporation owning an undersea fiber-optic network encircling Latin America, a $3 billion lawsuit concerning a failed Internet joint venture, and a $500 million case arising out of the insolvency of a corporation’s reinsurance subsidiary.

Mr. Burns has significant arbitration experience. Among other matters, he successfully represented a client through a 37-day hearing held by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association. At the time, the case had the highest dollar value in the history of the American Arbitration Association.

As a member of the Firm’s Distressed Real Estate Practice Group, Mr. Burns advises the Firm’s clients on the viability of litigation claims either in their favor or against them, and aggressively pursues cases to vindicate their rights.

Mr. Burns is fluent in Spanish, and has represented clients from Spain, Mexico, and Argentina. He has years of experience litigating cases with Spanish-speaking witnesses and Spanish-language documents. Mr. Burns has worked extensively with translators and litigated disputed translations.

Mr. Burns received the Legal Aid Society Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service after winning a trial on behalf of a resident alien facing deportation charges in 2006.

Mr. Burns served as an Articles Editor on the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, and wrote The Time for Full U.S. Participation in the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights, 24 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 435-54 (1993).

Mr. Burns previously practiced law at Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan, LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae, and Dewey & LeBoeuf.

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