For nearly 50 years, the Bay Area native has poked holes into narratives that did not add up, namely those of law enforcement accused of using excessive force. He estimates he has represented more …
By JANIE HAR | The Associated Press
He helped win a civil jury verdict of $3.8 million for the late Rodney King, a Black motorist whose 1991 beating by four Los Angeles police officers — captured on grainy camcorder video — shocked a public unaware of the brutality routinely inflicted on Black people. His practice also negotiated nearly $3 million for the family of Oscar Grant, a young Black man killed by a Bay Area transit officer in 2009 in one of the first police shootings recorded on cellphone.
John Burris was a big reader and as the Civil Rights era progressed, a speech class at Solano Community College showed him that people listened to what he had to say. He later graduated with advanced degrees in business and law from the University of California, Berkeley, yearning to do more. “There were certain attorneys that had a solid reputation, and he was one of them,” she said. “It was a big deal that he was African American.”
Burris recalls King as a regular guy unable to handle a media frenzy that relentlessly cast him in a negative light. Close friends called him by his middle name, Glen. In 1996, Burris received his only disciplinary mark with the State Bar of California when his license was suspended for 30 days over ethical violations. He said he should have maintained closer supervision of a growing staff that sent out misleading mailers to victims of mass disasters. He also admitted to bouncing a check to another lawyer and failing to file lawsuits on time for two clients.
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