Robert J. Burns is a senior associate in the Litigation Practice Group of Holland & Knight's New York City office. Mr. Burns has a broad complex litigation practice, with particular focus upon antitrust, product-liability, and insurance actions. In recent years, he has represented U.S. and foreign clients across a wide range of industries, including major airlines, insurers and reinsurers, industrial and manufacturing companies, pharmaceutical companies, investment holding companies, and financial institutions.
Mr. Burns has experience in all phases of the litigation process, from pre-trial discovery and motion practice through trial and appeal. He has represented clients at trial and in contested evidentiary hearings in both first-chair and co-lead capacities. He is particularly experienced in the management of large multidistrict civil litigations and class actions. He has successfully represented clients in the mediation and arbitration of major disputes, and in the negotiated resolution of multi-million-dollar commercial disputes short of formal litigation. Mr. Burns has also counseled clients on the antitrust and competition law implications of numerous proposed transactions. He has published articles in the areas of antitrust law and international arbitration.
Mr. Burns' notable recent experience includes the following:
Trial co-counsel for majority owner of large investment holding corporations in corporate valuation trial;
Counsel for major airlines in significant commercial and tort litigation matters in federal and state courts;
Counsel for a foreign insurer in a federal multidistrict antitrust and civil RICO action;
Counsel for a global pharmaceutical manufacturer in a federal multidistrict antitrust litigation and in various "indirect purchaser" antitrust actions in state courts;
Counsel for a foreign manufacturer of industrial products in state "indirect purchaser" antitrust actions;
Counsel for various industrial and manufacturing corporations in major product-liability direct actions and class actions in federal and state courts; and
Seconded for several months to the in-house legal department of a major London-based insurer, counseling claims and underwriting personnel on diverse litigation, transactional, and coverage matters.
Mr. Burns began his career in the litigation department of Davis Polk & Wardwell where his litigation work involved antitrust, securities, and general commercial matters. Immediately prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Burns worked as a solo practitioner in Boston, representing individual and business clients in a broad range of civil and criminal matters.
During law school, he was elected to the Order of the Coif and received academic awards in the fields of contract law, property law, evidence, legal writing, and New York practice.