Burke, Kathleen Foley

Carla Burke, an attorney and shareholder with Baron & Budd's water contamination litigation group, began her legal career with the firm's appellate section. She has a gift for writing and oral advocacy that has been very persuasive in the MTBE Multi-District Litigation cases. Carla has also authored and presented numerous papers and presentations on the topics of toxic tort and water contamination litigation and premises liability law.

Carla is a natural teacher, which is perfect for her role as a legal issues attorney in complex water contamination cases. She has also been an adjunct clinical instructor of law at the Southern Methodist University School of Law Legal Clinic and, before law school, an English professor at a local college.

Not long after law school, she successfully briefed and argued, pro bono, the case of Lawson v. Dallas County, 112 F.3d 257 (5th Cir. 2002) before the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, where she represented a disabled man whose lack of medical treatment while in the custody of the Dallas county jail amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Carla's work for her clients is driven by her conviction that "law is a powerful force for social change. What starts with one person can affect an entire nation." Carla found the opportunity to be a part of that force for change at Baron & Budd. "Baron & Budd is, literally, changing lives for the better," she says.