Kevin Burke, Judge
Encyclopedia
Kevin Burke is a District Judge
in Hennepin County, Minnesota
with over two decades of experience on the bench. He has won numerous accolades from national judicial organizations and is well published in judicial periodicals.
in Political Science
from the University of Minnesota
in 1972, and was awarded his Juris Doctor
in 1975. He served as an assistant public defender
in the Hennepin County Public Defender
s Office from 1975 until 1979. He left the Public Defenders office in 1979 to be partner at the law firm of Ranum, Quackenbush & Burke. In 1980 he left Ranum, Quackenbush & Burke for a partnership at Chestnut & Brooks, P.A. where he stayed until 1984.
Judge Burke was first appointed to the bench on July 25, 1984. He was elected to a six year term in 1986 and reelected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. He created and served as the Presiding Judge for Hennepin County's Drug Court from January 1, 1997 until June 30, 2000. At the time the Hennepin County Drug Court was one of the largest drug courts in the nation. He was elected for four terms as Chief Judge (July 1, 1992-June 30, 1996; July 1, 2000-June 30, 2004) and three terms as Assistant Chief Judge (July 1, 1989-June 30, 1992; December 1998-June 30, 2000). From 1991–1996 he served as the Chair of the Conference of Chief Judges. He chaired the State Board of Public Defense and was a leader in the effort to improve and expand the state’s public defender system.
In 1997, Judge Burke received the Director’s Community Leadership Award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
. In 2002, the National Center for State Courts
awarded him the Distinguished Service Award. In 2003, he was selected as the William H. Rehnquist Award recipient by the National Center for State Courts. The Rehnquist Award is presented annually to a state judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness and professional ethics. He was awarded Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine
in 2004. In 2005, the Minnesota Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates named him trial judge of the year. Recently the magazine Law & Politics named him one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in the history of the State of Minnesota.
In 1994 Judge Burke presided over the murder trials of Dennis Tate and Michael Olson who were convicted for the murder of Brian Glick
. In addition, Judge Burke has taught at the University of Minnesota Law School
since 1989 and at the University of St. Thomas
Law School since 2003. From 1986 until 1990 he served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
Reflective Leadership Program. He has been a speaker in many states as well as Canada
, Egypt
, Mexico
, China
, India
and Ireland
regarding improvement in judicial administration and court leadership. He is a board member of the American Judicature Society and the Institute for the Reform of the American Legal System.
In 2008 the Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper wrote a critical article of Burke's ruling in a dog-attack manslaughter case due to Burke's own citations by local police after his Australian Shepherd
s bit neighboring dogs.
Minnesota District Courts
The Minnesota District Courts are the state trial courts of general jurisdiction in the U.S. state of Minnesota.The Minnesota Constitution provides that the district court has original jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases and such appellate jurisdiction as may be prescribed by law.Each district...
in Hennepin County, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
with over two decades of experience on the bench. He has won numerous accolades from national judicial organizations and is well published in judicial periodicals.
Career
He received his Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1972, and was awarded his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1975. He served as an assistant public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
in the Hennepin County Public Defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
s Office from 1975 until 1979. He left the Public Defenders office in 1979 to be partner at the law firm of Ranum, Quackenbush & Burke. In 1980 he left Ranum, Quackenbush & Burke for a partnership at Chestnut & Brooks, P.A. where he stayed until 1984.
Judge Burke was first appointed to the bench on July 25, 1984. He was elected to a six year term in 1986 and reelected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. He created and served as the Presiding Judge for Hennepin County's Drug Court from January 1, 1997 until June 30, 2000. At the time the Hennepin County Drug Court was one of the largest drug courts in the nation. He was elected for four terms as Chief Judge (July 1, 1992-June 30, 1996; July 1, 2000-June 30, 2004) and three terms as Assistant Chief Judge (July 1, 1989-June 30, 1992; December 1998-June 30, 2000). From 1991–1996 he served as the Chair of the Conference of Chief Judges. He chaired the State Board of Public Defense and was a leader in the effort to improve and expand the state’s public defender system.
In 1997, Judge Burke received the Director’s Community Leadership Award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. In 2002, the National Center for State Courts
National Center for State Courts
The National Center for State Courts is a non-profit organization charged with improving judicial administration in the United States and around the world...
awarded him the Distinguished Service Award. In 2003, he was selected as the William H. Rehnquist Award recipient by the National Center for State Courts. The Rehnquist Award is presented annually to a state judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness and professional ethics. He was awarded Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine
Governing Magazine
Governing is a national monthly magazine, edited and published since 1987 in Washington, D.C., whose subject area is state and local government in the United States. The magazine covers policy, politics and the management of government enterprises...
in 2004. In 2005, the Minnesota Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates named him trial judge of the year. Recently the magazine Law & Politics named him one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in the history of the State of Minnesota.
In 1994 Judge Burke presided over the murder trials of Dennis Tate and Michael Olson who were convicted for the murder of Brian Glick
Brian Glick (murder victim)
The Murder of Brian Glick involved homicide victim Brian Glick, who was murdered at the age of 21 on October 25, 1993 by Dennis Tate and Michael Olson in Bloomington, Minnesota...
. In addition, Judge Burke has taught at the University of Minnesota Law School
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D.,...
since 1989 and at the University of St. Thomas
University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
The University of St. Thomas is a private, Catholic, liberal arts, and archdiocesan university located in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States...
Law School since 2003. From 1986 until 1990 he served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs is a graduate public affairs school located at the University of Minnesota, ranking among the top 15 professional schools of public affairs at public universities in the country. It is named after Hubert H. Humphrey, former Vice President of the...
Reflective Leadership Program. He has been a speaker in many states as well as Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
regarding improvement in judicial administration and court leadership. He is a board member of the American Judicature Society and the Institute for the Reform of the American Legal System.
In 2008 the Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper wrote a critical article of Burke's ruling in a dog-attack manslaughter case due to Burke's own citations by local police after his Australian Shepherd
Australian Shepherd
The Australian shepherd is a breed of herding dog that was developed on ranches in the Western United States. Despite its name, the breed, commonly known as an Aussie, did not originate in Australia They acquired their name because some of the Australian sheepdogs arrived in the United States with...
s bit neighboring dogs.
Publications
Below is a partial list of Judge Burke's publications. Recently he co-authored with Judge Steve Leben a white paper for the American Judges Association on Procedural Fairness. His other articles are listed below:- "The Evolution of the Trial Judge From Counting Case Dispositions to a Commitment to Fairness," Vol. 18, No. 2, Widener Law Journal, 2009.
- "Understanding the International Rule of Law as a Commitment to Procedural Fairness," Vol. 18, Issue 2, Minnesota Journal of International Law, Summer 2009.
- “State v. Dettman: The End of the Sentencing Revolution or Just the Beginning?” Vol. 33, No. 4, William Mitchell Law Review, 2007.
- “Judging the Courts,” Vol. 48, No. 3, State News, March 2005.
- “A Judiciary That Is as Good as Its Promise: The Best Strategy for Preserving Judicial Independence,” Vol. 41, Issue 2, Court Review, Summer 2004
- “The Tyranny of the “Or” is the Threat to Judicial Independence, Not Problem-Solving Courts,” Vol. 41, Issue 2, Court Review, Summer 2004
- “A Court and a Judiciary That Is as Good as Its Promise,” Vol. 73, No. 1, The Hennepin Lawyer, January/February 2004
- “A Court and a Judiciary That Is as Good as Its Promise,” Vol. 40, Issue 2, Court Review, Summer 2003
- “Transforming the District Court,” Vol. 72, No. 1, ¬The Hennepin Lawyer, January 2003
- “The Hennepin County Drug Court: A Progress Report,” Vol. 69, No. 5, The Hennepin Lawyer, May 2000.
- “Drugs and the Legal System,” Vol. 72, No. 1, Spectrum, The Journal of State Government, Winter 1999.
- “That was Then; This is Now,” Vol. 62, No. 5, The Hennepin Lawyer, May/June 1993.
- “Doing the System Justice: Toward the Creation of a More Healthy Judiciary,” Vol. 7, No. 1, Law & Politics, April 19, 1992.
- “New Chief Judge Eyes Courtroom Changes,” Vol. 62, No. 2, The Hennepin Lawyer, Nov/Dec 1992.
- “Misconduct on the Bench, or . . . What to do With Judges Who are Cantankerous,” Vol. 49, No. 4, The Hennepin Lawyer, Mar/Apr 1992.
- “Chief Justice A.M. ‘Sandy’ Keith,” The Hennepin Lawyer, Mar/Apr 1991.
- “State on New Course for Sentencing: ‘Just Desserts,’” Vol. 6, No. 6, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, Sept/Oct 1981.
- Public Defender Trial Lawyers Manual, published October 1979 by Minnesota Public Defenders Association and Hennepin County Public Defenders Office through L.E.A.A. grant.
- “DWI – A New Law – An Old Approach,” Vol. 48, No. 2, The Hennepin Lawyer, Nov/Dec 1978.