About Us
Our History
Burris Law’s beginning can be summarized as a love story between an IP attorney and a city.
In 2013, Kelly Burris moved to Detroit to accept a role as managing partner of the newly opened Detroit office of one of the largest IP boutique law firms in the country. The office would be housed in the USPTO’s first satellite location – the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office, which had made the city an appealing destination for the IP law community.
Then, only three years later, Kelly’s firm decided to shutter its Detroit location. As Kelly’s colleagues transferred to other cities, she resisted. Too many bonds had been made with the Detroit community: The office neighbors at the patent office had become friends, Kelly had grown deeply connected to the Detroit business scene, and she had just begun to explore the city’s local and vibrant arts community.
Opening up her own law firm had long been a dream of Kelly’s, so with a mix of desire and opportunity, she decided to stay and transform her old firm’s office into her own. With a couple of paralegals at her side, Kelly opened Burris Law in 2016. Since then, Burris Law and Detroit have been inseparable.
Working at Burris Law
Burris Law prioritizes the fulfillment and success of its team members. We know that engagement is critical to maintaining a happy workforce, and we foster engagement by creating an environment where our people can spread their wings, thrive, and grow.
Unlike the traditional law firm, we do not believe in hierarchies and value every team members’ contributions, regardless of whether they are an attorney. We also value transparency. The state of the firm is never a secret; we want all team members to remain informed about what we are building together. We also maintain an open-door policy and encourage improvement recommendations.
Diversity and inclusion are baked into Burris Law’s culture. We did not set out to become a diverse firm. We naturally became one. By encouraging our team members to unapologetically bring their whole selves to work without worry about judgment or criticism, we have created an environment where people of all backgrounds and identities can be themselves and succeed.
Burris Law also is a proud member of the Detroit community, and we invest significant time and resources into helping make our city a great place for all to live. We do this in a number of ways: We volunteer with and donate to local charities, our offices house a gallery of Detroit artists’ work, we judge local and regional STEM competitions, and we prioritize contracting Michigan-based companies.
Interested in employment opportunities at Burris Law? Contact us.
The Burris Law Difference
Burris Law isn’t your ordinary IP firm. We’re a group of lawyers who are passionate about engineering and innovation. All of our attorneys have backgrounds and hands-on experience in the STEM fields and enjoy applying their knowledge and experience across the sciences to protect and defend our clients’ intellectual property.
We invest a lot of attention in getting to know our clients at every level of their organizations, from the C-suite to the engineers. Inventors are just as comfortable talking to us as the general counsel. We also prioritize getting up to speed on our clients’ businesses and their competition so that we can provide proactive counsel that adds value, identifies opportunities, and overcomes obstacles.
It’s not just our clients who are innovative. We believe that technology brings new dimensions in performance. That is why we are fully “paperless” with our electronic master files and client tools, including 24/7 access to files through secure web-based portals that we have developed with local programmers in concert with our clients.
If you’re a client of Burris Law, then you can expect to get a visit from Kelly and the team, who often travel to client sites in Kelly’s TBM 940 aircraft at no cost to the client. It’s just one of the unique perks of being a Burris Law client.
