Trial Lawyer Guy Burns Reflects on Five Decades of Life in Law
If there’s anything that can keep one’s legal career on a meaningful, decades-long trajectory, said trial lawyer Guy Burns, it’s the ability to set concrete goals – but only if you leave a little room for serendipity.
Burns was speaking as the 2023 Nichols Foundation Prominent Speaker Lecture on his chosen topic, “Where Will You Be in 50 Years?” Often referred to as the Nichols Lecture, the series is named for Perry Nichols, a 1937 Stetson Law alumnus who is considered a trial-law pioneer. Burns, who was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1973 and subsequently built a successful career that has spanned decades, reflected on his years as a prominent trial attorney – but not without a little humility.
“Really, perhaps the reason I’ve been asked to be here is that I’ve been around a long time,” Burns, who is now partner at Tampa-based firm Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns, said. “And it pains me to say that, but this is my 50th year practicing law.”
Knowing he’d be speaking to a room full of law students in Stetson Law’s Great Hall that afternoon, he decided his topic would cover the attributes and practices that helped him grow as a lawyer.
A big factor, he said, was regularly stopping to look down the road.
“I have always during my career thought a bit about what’s next,” he said. “And I think regularly about what’s next year, and what’s in five years.”
The importance of setting goals
Hired out fresh out of law school, Burns said he had a rather lucrative starting salary – for the time.
“They offered me $12,000 a year,” he said, as the audience chuckled. “And that was big money.”
He then set a goal to make $30,000 by age 30. As a civil trial lawyer who got his start defending clients in complex commercial matters, he achieved that. He said law students are uniquely equipped to accomplish whatever they set their minds to.
“Your legal education here is a great foundation for whatever you decide to do,” Burns said. “You’re a group of people that sets goals. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t set goals already, and you wouldn’t be here if you if you weren’t willing to have some delayed gratification.”
Yet one should also be open to the opportunities that come along with life’s twists and turns.
“With any plan you make, leave room for serendipity, fate, and unexpected things to come into play,” he said.
Following one’s conscience
Though he started out defending companies against accusations of fraud and other legal matters, Burns said he ultimately realized he wanted to use his skills and talents to help those being defrauded and otherwise taken advantage of by large companies with seemingly infinite means. So he set the goal of moving into representing plaintiffs.
“It was a conscious decision to move in that direction,” Burns said. “If you want to spread your wings and you’ve been the best widget lawyer in the world and you think you might want to get into something else, make a plan.”
Now, he primarily represents litigants in cases involving consumer fraud, financial malpractice, and securities, among other matters. Over the years, he has helped clients win record-setting awards as well as settlements totaling well into nine figures.
Burns is also a cofounder of Crypto Lawyers, which helps clients recover lost investments in cryptocurrency and has amassed a long history of representing clients pro bono in cases involving discrimination over race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Telling your story
Fielding questions from students in the audience, Burns turned from the philosophical to the practical at times. Asked what made him excel at persuading jurors to favor his clients, he said the most effective tool he has is storytelling. “Number one is develop a theme,” Burns said. “I’d lay out a theme… and I would try to work that consistently into the case. If it’s a theme I think I can sell, I want to ride that as far as I can.”
Post date: March 30, 2023
Media contact: Kate Bradshaw
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