|
Kevin S. Burke
Originally published in the November/December
1984 issue.
Author: Dorothy Florence
Judge
Kevin Burke’s credentials read like that of a lawyer with gray
hair and decades of experience. Even though he’s only 34 years
old, our new Hennepin County Municipal Court Jurist brings an
admirable breadth of experience with him to the Municipal Bench.
Born
and raised in Chicago, Kevin Burke attended the University of
Minnesota, where he ultimately earned a Bachelor of Arts degree,
summa cum laude, in 1972. During undergraduate school in the
sometimes turbulent era of the late 60’s and early 70’s, he
determined to devote a major portion of his life to public
service.
Following
his graduation from the University of Minnesota, Burke attended
the University of Minnesota Law School graduating with his Juris
Doctor degree in 1975. He began an active trial practice upon
his admission to the bar which was interrupted only by his
appointment to the bench on July 26, 1984, by Governor Rudy
Perpich. In that time, Burke served as an adjunct professor in
the trial skills program at the William Mitchell College of Law,
where he taught trial skills, basic lawyering skills and
advanced trial advocacy. He was also appointed as a legal
writing instructor at the University of Minnesota Law School.
Not
content with a full-time trial practice and a position as a law
faculty member, Judge Burke found time to serve the Court, the
Bar and the public as a member of numerous public and private
committees and agencies. He has also authored several
publications dealing with subjects in the criminal law area. Two
of Judge Burke’s special interests showed through during my
interview with him. The two might seem inconsistent. The first
was his volunteer representation of death row defendants as a
part of the American Bar Association’s Death Row Project. The
second was his representation of Police Officer David Mack whose
service as a policeman resulted in injuries which left him in a
"persistent vegetative state" and led to one of the
most-publicized decisions about removal of a brain-damaged
patient from a respirator.
The
Death Row Project is an ABA-sponsored effort to provide legal
representation to prisoners who have been sentenced to death.
Interested lawyers throughout the country, including former
Attorney General Griffin Bell, have agreed to represent death
row defendants without charge. While Judge Burke readily admits
he’s not an expert on capital punishment, he has actively
pursued representation of a death row defendant in the South,
even picking up the tab for his travel expenses. Judge Burke is
pleased that Minnesota has renounced the death penalty as a
punishment for crime. His only regret about becoming a judge is
that he will not be able to continue his work on the Death Row
Project. He hopes that other Minnesota lawyers will take up the
slack.
Officer
David Mack’s case, like those of death row prisoners, involved
the practice of law in a real "life or death"
situation. Mack, a Minneapolis police officer, was shot in
December 1979 while executing a search warrant. He suffered a
severe brain injury and was diagnosed by his physicians as being
in a "persistent vegetative state." Doctors believed
there was no hope of recovery of intellectual function and that
if Mack’s respirator was disconnected, he would die. Retained
to represent Mack, Burke conducted hours of independent
investigation and interviews and finally concluded that Officer
Mack’s family was correct in asking that he not be
resuscitated. Burke came to believe that Mack would have made
the same decision.
To the
great surprise of his doctors, Officer Mack did not expire, but
instead began a remarkable recovery which has left him impaired
but able to communicate and function as a human being. Burke
feels that his relationship with David Mack as a result of his
representation is very special. He says that even after
everything that happened, he still would defend an order not to
resuscitate if that was David Mack’s wish. David Mack, for his
part, showed his feelings toward Kevin Burke by presenting him
after his appointment was announced with a gold money clip
monogrammed "Here comes the Judge."
Since
Governor Perpich’s judicial selection process has been subject
to public criticism, I asked Burke for his comments. He
responded, not surprisingly, that he felt that Governor Perpich
appointed people with demonstrated legal skills and with views
compatible with his own.
Besides
practicing law and serving as a volunteer, Burke finds time to
enjoy golf and reading. He reads avidly, including keeping up
with four newspapers. He does this in spite of, or perhaps
because of, his status as a single person. When asked if he felt
being a judge would put a damper on his social life, Burke
reminded me of former California Governor Jerry Brown and
Governor Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who have managed to make the
gossip columns and the pages of People magazine while in
office.
Burke’s
single status is a sharp contrast to his childhood, when he was
one of five children. Two brothers, Dennis and Thomas, have
pursued legal careers, another brother, Terrence, just received
a graduate degree in finance, and his sister, Sheila, is a bond
broker in San Francisco. Judge Burke’s mother, Mrs. Rose
Burke, was able to be present when he was sworn in on July 26,
1984, although his father could not attend because of poor
health.
Kevin
Burke brings to the bench a fine mind, an ability to devote
himself single-mindedly to a task, a concern for other people
and, not incidentally, a fine Irish sense of humor. In spite of
the demands of a hectic Municipal Court schedule, Burke doesn’t
think he will be affected. "After all," he notes,
"I’ll remain Kevin Burke; only my employer has
changed." |
Back
to Top |
