Anne Marie Burr
Office: Room 3335
Telephone: (313) 577-8033
E-mail: amburr@wayne.edu
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B.A., Oakland University
J.D., Wayne State University Law School
Advanced Legal Writing
Legal Drafting
Legal Research and Writing
Professor Anne M. Burr serves as the academic director of Legal Research and Writing at Wayne Law and was recently a visiting assistant professor at Peking University’s School of Transnational Law (STL).
As an academic director of Legal Research and Writing at Wayne Law, Professor Burr is responsible for designing and implementing a legal practice program that integrates analysis, research, writing, oral advocacy, transactional drafting and other aspects of the practice of law. She oversees Orientation, the State Bar of Michigan Professionalism in Action Program and the First Year Moot Court Program. She is also a frequent guest lecturer on scholarly writing for J.D. and LL.M. students.
As a visiting assistant professor at STL, Professor Burr assisted in designing and implementing the legal practice program for the first western style law school in China. Launched in 2008 in Shenzhen, STL seeks to provide its students with the practice skills necessary to achieve success in global law firms.
Professor Burr began her legal career as a federal law clerk for U.S. District Judge George E. Woods, before joining the regional law firm of Dykema Gossett. Becoming an equity partner in 1989, she specialized in corporate workouts. She was also one of three finalists in 1989 for an appointment as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Following her tenure at Dykema, Professor Burr served as senior counsel of the multinational corporation Allied Domecq, PLC. Responsible for mergers, acquisitions and divestitures for the wines and spirits division, she worked on transactions in Mexico, South America and Asia.
When the wines and spirits division of Allied Domecq was itself acquired, Professor Burr turned to teaching, training and mediating. In addition to her positions at Wayne Law and STL, Professor Burr has taught as a visiting or assistant professor at Detroit College of Law, Ave Maria School of Law, and Wayne State University Schools of Business Administration and Communications. She has taught subjects as diverse as civil procedure, debtor-creditor law, negotiation, writing and analysis, legal research and legal drafting. She has also served as a certified mediator for the Oakland County Circuit Court and the Eastern District of Michigan Bankruptcy Court, as well as a facilitator for the National Center for Community and Justice.
An avid writer, Professor Burr has published various articles on practice skills, alternative dispute resolution, and most recently her experiences teaching at STL. Law and Harmony: An In-depth Look at China’s First Western Style Law School will be published by U.C.L.A.’s Pacific Basin Law Journal this fall. Professor Burr is also co-authoring a book, U.S. Legal Skills for Foreign Students, with University of Michigan Professor Howard Bromberg. The book will be published by Carolina Academic Press next year.
Books
U.S. Legal Practice Skills for Foreign Students, co-authored with H. Bromberg (Carolina Academic Press, 2012) (in progress)
Journal articles
“Law and Harmony: An In-depth Look at China’s First Western Style Law School,” 28 UCLA Pac. Basin Law Journal 1 (2011)(forthcoming)
“Mediation Ethics: The Need for a Mediation Privilege,” American Arbitration Association Dispute Resolution Journal 64 (February 2002)
“Negotiation Ethics: Does Getting to Yes Require Candor?” American Arbitration Association Dispute Resolution Journal 9 (July 2001)
“Building Reform from the Bottom Up: Formulating Local Rules for Bankruptcy Court Annexed Mediation,” 12 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 311 (1997)
“The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994”, 74 Michigan Bar Journal 668 (1994)
“The Un-proposed Solution to Chapter 11 Reform”, 25 California Western International Law Journal 113 (1994)
“Federal Practice in the Bankruptcy Court”, 69 Michigan Bar Journal 1020 (1990) (co-authored)
Select Presentations
Chinese University of Political Science and Law Legal Studies Program, Mt. Clemens, MI, August 2011
Global Legal Skills Conference VI, Chicago, IL, May 2011
International Social Science Research Conference V, New Orleans, LA., September 2010
LexisNexis Legal Writing Summit, Miami, FL, December 2009
- December 18, 2012
Anne Marie Burr presented at a Legal Writing Institute Conference held at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Law in December on the subject of "Creating Practice Ready Grads." Burr also is collaborating with University of Michigan Professor Howard Bromberg on a practice skills textbook, "U.S. Legal Skills for Foreign Students" (Carolina Academic Press 2013), and serving as the chair of the Executive Board for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education for 2012-13. - July 10, 2012
Anne Marie Burr was one of two law professors who presented a lecture about the practice of American law to 25 law students from the Chinese University of Political Science and Law. The session was held at Oakland University as part of the American Legal System Tour presented by the Chinese university and the Macomb Cultural and Economic Partnership. Burr and University of Michigan law Professor Howard Bromberg used material from their textbook, "U.S. Legal Skills for Foreign Students," to be published next year by Carolina Academic Press. - December 10, 2009
Anne Marie Burr participated in the LexisNexis Legal Research & Writing Summit in Miami Dec. 7-9, 2009, as a guest of LexisNexis. The LR&W Summit is an opportunity to collaborate with a select group of faculty from around the country. The Summit focuses on challenges and trends in the growing field of legal research and writing. Professor Burr has been Director of the Legal Research and Writing program at Wayne Law since 2008. She is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Legal Methods at Peking University's School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, China. - March 15, 2009
Anne Marie Burr will be speaking together with Professor Howard Bromberg, of the University of Michigan's Law School, to the International Law Society and faculty of Ave Maria School of Law at noon on March 24, 2009, at Ave Maria's Ann Arbor campus. The topic of the presentation is the Peking University's School of Transnational Law and a comparison of skills training in the United States and China.
- Anne Marie Burr was the subject of a feature story in the Legal News titled "Foreign exchange Chinese law students enjoy American legal system tour."
Read Article - Anne Marie Burr was featured in a Flint-Genesee County Legal News article titled "Foreign exchange Chinese law students enjoy American legal system tour." Burr was one of two law professors who presented a lecture to the students about the practice of American law.
Read Article - Anne Marie Burr was featured in "WSU Law Professor Co-authors Legal Book for Foreign Students", Sheila Pursglove, Legal News, July 12, 2011.
- Anne Marie Burr commented in "WSU Law's Motion Day Provides Insight Into Courtroom Etiquette", Mike Scott, Legal News, January 20, 2011.
- Anne Marie Burr commented in a Motion magazine article titled "Simply Put: Plain language movement may give legalese the boot."
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