JOHN M. BURMAN

Professor of Law

  AND DIRECTOR OF LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAM

Office: 203 College of Law Building

Legal Services Office: 102 UW Office Annex
Telephone: 307-766-2165, (Legal Services) 307-766-2104
Email address: jmburman@uwyo.edu

John M. Burman is a Professor of Law at the University of Wyoming College of Law and Faculty Supervisor of the Legal Services Program. Since joining the faculty of the College of Law in 1989, Professor Burman has taught and written about torts and legal ethics. His ethics columns appear every two months in the Wyoming Lawyer.

Professor Burman was a Fulbright Teaching Fellow at Petrozavodsk State University in Karelia, Russia in 1998. He served as a Clinical Legal Education Specialist in Moscow, Russia, for the American Bar Association’s Central and East European Legal Initiative in the summer of 2000. In the summer of 2002, he worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Minsk, Belarus, as a clinical evaluator and consultant.

Burman began his legal career as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota. Several years later, he entered private practice with the Laramie, Wyoming, law firm of Corthell and King. He is still of counsel at Corthell and King and he focuses his practice on consulting with lawyers about grievances and malpractice, often serving as an expert witness in such cases.

The Legal Services Program that Professor Burman supervises is a live-client clinic in which third year students represent low-income persons in civil matters which will not generate a fee. Most cases involve: (1) domestic matters (usually disputes over child custody); (2) juvenile cases (abuse and neglect); (3) consumer bankruptcies; or (4) appeals from the denial of government benefits, such as Social Security Disability Benefits. Under supervision, students in the clinic perform all the roles of a lawyer, including making any necessary court appearances. In the summer of 2002, the Legal Services Program opened a Domestic Violence project in which students represent victims of domestic violence in civil matters.

Education

B.A., University of Wyoming (1978).
J.D., University of Minnesota (1981), magna cum laude

Publications

An Attorney's Ethical Obligations of Confidentiality Under the New Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct, Vol. 29, No. 4, Wyoming Lawyer (August 2006).

Supreme Court Adopts Changes to the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct, Vol. 29, No. 3, Wyoming Lawyer (June 2006).

The Work Product Doctrine, Vol. 29, No. 2, Wyoming Lawyer (April 2006).

The Attorney-Client Privilege in Wyoming: Part II, Waiver and Exceptions, Vol. 29, No. 1, Wyoming Lawyer (February 2006).

The Attorney-Client Privilege in Wyoming: Part I, The Basics, Vol. XXVIII, No. 6, Wyoming Lawyer (December 2005).

Who May Practice Law in Wyoming?, Vol. XXVIII, No. 5, Wyoming Lawyer (October 2005).

Wyoming's New Payment and Practice Standards for Guardians ad Litem in Juvenile Court, Vol. XXVIII, No. 4, Wyoming Lawyer (August 2005)

Wyoming Attorneys' Pro Bono "Obligation," 5 Wyo. L. Rev. 421 (2005)

Juvenile Injustice in Wyoming, 4 Wyo. L. Rev. 669 (2004)

Ethical Considerations When Representing Organizations, 3 Wyo. L. Rev. 582 (2003).

Lawyers and Domestic Violence: Raising the Standard of Practice, 9 Mich. J. Gender & Law 207 (2003)

Cross-examining a Witness About the Witness’s Contacts With His or Her Lawyer, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, Wyoming Lawyer (August 2003)

Recent Amendments to the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct, Part II: Rules for Guardians ad Litem, Vol. XXVI, No 2, Wyoming Lawyer (April 2003).

Recent Amendments to the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct, Part 1: Unbundled Legal Services, Vol. XXVI, No 1, Wyoming Lawyer (February 2003).

Attorneys’ Reporting Obligations, Vol. XXV, No. V, Wyoming Lawyer (December 2002)

The Role of Clinical Legal Education in Developing the Rule of Law in Russia, 2 Wyo. L. Rev 89 (2002)

Oral Examinations as a Method of Evaluating Law Students, 51 J. Legal Educ.130 (March 2001).