Member Directory
Member Directory

Warren Burns

Burns Charest LLP - Dallas
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Warren Burns
Burns Charest LLP - Dallas
Dallas,
 TX

Selecting a lawyer for your case is a very important decision. You want a lawyer who understands your concerns and will fight to achieve your goals. You want a lawyer who believes in our system and knows how to succeed in it. And most importantly you want a lawyer who is going to give you candid and meaningful advice. I am that lawyer.

I focus my practice on high-stakes, multidistrict antitrust litigation, along with other complex class action and commercial cases. I have handled numerous cases involving price fixing, monopolization, breach of contract, intellectual property, business torts, consumer protection statutes, and accounting malpractice.

I achieve results. In 2012, I helped lead a trial team that took the first mortgage-backed-securities related case to trial. In a landmark and game-changing trial, we secured a $106 million judgment on behalf of our client and obtained key pre-trial determinations that had a domino effect in related cases.

I want to know more about your case and to see if there is a way I can help you. I look forward to talking with you.

Education & Background

Where a man comes from is important. I believe it can tell you a lot about his character and approach to litigation and trials.
I am from a small town in Mississippi called Kosciusko. My extended family on both sides has lived there for six generations. My upbringing had a profound impact on me. I learned the value of community, the importance of not only joining in the lives of those around you, but making a difference in them as well.

I spent my college years at Ole Miss. I played four years of rugby for the Ole Miss Rugby Football Club, starting each season as a second-row forward. I use the skills I learned on the rugby pitch everyday in litigation. In a fast moving match, you have to be prepared to play offense and defense intelligently. You have to capitalize quickly on your opponents' mistakes. And you have to bring maximum pressure at the right moment to win. The same is true in litigation.

After college, I moved to the District of Columbia to work in public relations and fundraising. I took a job as a junior fundraising staffer at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in the Americas. Within a year, I was promoted to serve as the Communications Director at the Basilica.

I next moved to the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting people with developmental disabilities in their efforts to live full and complete lives. There, I served as the Director of Development and Public Relations.

Later, I moved to Asheville, North Carolina to assume the role of Development Director at Riverlink, a regional non-profit organization. At Riverlink, our focus was on restoration of the French Broad River and developing the economy along its banks.

I left Riverlink to attend Tulane Law School. There, I graduated summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, and received the John Minor Wisdom Award, Tulane's highest prize for graduating law students. I also served as Editor in Chief of the Tulane Law Review.

After law school, I clerked for the Hon. Paul J. Kelly, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

My background continuously helps me relate to witnesses and juries in ways that benefit my clients.

Admissions & Honors

Since 2011, I have been named a Texas Rising Star in Business Litigation.
Every year since 2014, I have been named to the International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers.

In 2015 and 2016, I was included in the Top 100 National Trial Lawyers.

In 2016, I was elected to the American Law Institute. The American Law Institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law.

I am a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The Fellows is an honorary organization of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Membership in The Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

I am an active member of the Dallas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. In the ABA, I sit on the steering committee for the international litigation committee.

I am also a member of the American Association for Justice and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. And I am a Fellow in the Southern Trial Lawyers Association.

I sit on the Board of Advisory Editors of the Tulane Law Review, a national board comprised of distinguished alumni.

Representative Cases & Decisions

ANTITRUST CLASS ACTION / CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENTS: I serve as co-lead counsel in In re Vehicle Carrier Services Antitrust Litigation (2013-present) now pending in the District of New Jersey. On the eve of arguing against defendants' consolidated motion to dismiss, I negotiated a confidential settlement with one of the principal defendants. I negotiated a second confidential settlement with another major defendant just weeks later.
ANTITRUST CLASS ACTION / LEADERSHIP: I serve on the executive committee in In re Domestic Airlines Antitrust Litigation (2015-present) now pending in the District of Columbia. Our clients have alleged that the nation's four major airlines conspired to restrict capacity in order to fuel record- high profits.

ANTITRUST CLASS ACTION / CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENTS: I previously served as co-lead counsel in In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation (2011-2015) in the Eastern District of Michigan. I personally negotiated settlements exceeding $100 million with foreign defendants while successfully organizing and managing this complex case.

COMMERCIAL CASES / CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENTS: Lead trial counsel in three cases against the gas giant Chesapeake for breach of contract and underpayment of royalties relating to the oil and gas lease on the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. I have represented minority and women-owned business enterprises in their efforts to enforce contractual provisions against Chesapeake. I have settled all three cases successfully over the past three years, including one case that settled two days before trial.

COMMERCIAL CASE / CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT: Lead trial counsel in a confidential arbitration representing a telecommunications company in its suit against its former billing aggregator. My client hired me with less than three months to go before trial.

SECURITIES CLASS ACTION / DEFENSE COUNSEL: Counsel in Brady v. Kosmos Energy, Ltd. (N.D. Tex.) (2012-present) defending a start-up oil and gas company against allegations centering on its initial public offering. The court recently denied plaintiffs' motion for class certification.

COMMERCIAL CASE / JUDGMENT EXCEEDING $100 MILLION: Counsel in Assured Guaranty v. Flagstar Bank (S.D.N.Y.) (2011-2012), the first case to go to trial related to the residential mortgage backed securities market meltdown. I represented a bond insurer in a suit against the securities issuer, resulting in a judgment of over $100 million. In this expert-driven case, I managed plaintiff's principal liability expert, on whose opinion Judge Jed Rakoff relied in reaching his judgment. At trial, I cross-examined defendant's principal liability expert, whose opinion Judge Rakoff ultimately discredited.

CLASS ACTION / JUDGMENT EXCEEDING $16 MILLION: Counsel in In re Universal Service Fund Litigation (D. Kan.) (2005-2013). We prevailed at trial on a breach of contract claim for AT&T's California landline telecommunications customers.

ANTITRUST CLASS ACTION / SETTLEMENTS EXCEEDING $50 MILLION: Counsel in In re Ready-Mixed Concrete Antitrust Litigation (S.D. Ind. 2005-2010). We resolved the case before trial with class members receiving more than 100 percent of their actual damages after deduction of attorneys' fees.

PATENT CASE / CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT: Counsel in Individual Network v. Apple (E.D. Tex.) (2007-2009) representing an inventor in its patent infringement case against Apple. This case involved Apple's Genius recommendation engine. I managed all aspects of discovery and motion practice, including taking the depositions of all defense experts and managing plaintiffs infringement and validity expert. The case was resolved before trial.

ANTITRUST CASE / CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT: Counsel in Morris & Dickson Co. v. Abbot Labs. (M.D. La.) (2006-2008), representing a regional pharmaceutical wholesaler in its suit against Abbott Laboratories for violation of the Robinson-Patman Act by unfairly favoring my client's competitors. I managed all aspects of the litigation, including settlement negotiations. The case was resolved before trial.

Speaking Engagements

Litigation Trends in the $50 Era, 2015 Energy and Environmental Law Summit (October 2, 2015)
King Cake or Po-Boy? Do Class Actions Offer Meaningful Compensation to Class Members, or do They Simply Rip Off Consumers Twice?, 19th Annual National Institute on Class Actions, American Bar Association (October 22, 2015)


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