Burris Law founder and owner Kelly Burris is featured by Western Michigan University’s W Magazine in an online alumni profile, “Multihyphenate alumna Kelly Burris is a highflyer”. Kelly serves as vice chair of the university’s Board of Trustees and earned her Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from WMU in 1988.
The feature highlights Kelly’s path as a WMU alumna, former aerospace engineer, licensed pilot, intellectual property attorney, and entrepreneur who has built a globally recognized IP firm serving more than 600 clients. Much of that growth is tied to Burris Law’s fly-to-client service model, in which Kelly pilots her own Daher TBM 940 aircraft — which she refers to as her “secret business weapon” — to meet with clients and develop stronger patent strategies.
“When I started Burris Law 10 years ago, I had a vision to build an IP firm founded on the principle of when you show up, when you listen and when you understand what your clients are building, everything else follows,” Kelly told W Magazine. “Being with a client in person enables us to collaborate better and deliver smarter strategies. I want clients to view us as their local counsel no matter where they are located … That ability to show up changes everything.”
Kelly also credits WMU with helping her launch her successful and varied career.
“So much of where my professional career is today started at Western Michigan University,” Kelly told W Magazine. “That’s where I studied aeronautical engineering while being a student-athlete, learned to fly, received hands-on career training through internships before graduation, and began to understand how much I loved being close to innovation.”
Kelly added: “Those experiences shaped much of what came after: from my engineering career and path into law to the way I built Burris Law around showing up for clients, being an integral team member and seeing their technology firsthand.”
Founded in Detroit in 2016 and now with an additional office in St. Louis, Burris Law is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2026. Its attorneys and patent agents have filed thousands of patent applications worldwide, securing more than 2,000 patents in the U.S. alone. Burris Law provides counsel across a full range of IP needs, including patent preparation and prosecution, post-grant proceedings, trademarks, trade secrets, IP transactions, and strategic portfolio development.
Read the full W Magazine profile here: “Multihyphenate alumna Kelly Burris is a highflyer.”