Judge Memorial graduate receives Pro Bono Attorney of the Year award

Intermountain Catholic

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Paul C. Burke

SALT LAKE CITY — Paul C. Burke received the Utah State Bar’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year award during the Utah State Bar’s annual Law Day celebration May 1.

Burke was recognized for giving hundreds of hours of pro bono work during the preceding year, most notably, representing an abused teenager in a complicated child welfare case, said Third District Judge Royal Hansen in a press release.

Pro bono work – from the Latin ‘for the public good’ – is done without charge. The Utah State Bar encourages attorneys to volunteer their professional services for those who are unable to pay.

Burke, a 1989 graduate of Judge Memorial Catholic High School, is a partner and serves as general counsel of Ray Quinney & Nebeker law firm. He is a civil litigator specializing in employment law.

"I am honored to accept this award on behalf of my partners and our firm," said Burke. "I owe my parents an eternal debt of gratitude for providing me with the opportunities that enabled me to join this profession. My parents endured my earliest arguments and appeals. I’m grateful they were not aware of Rule 11, which prohibits frivolous arguments in cases."

At Quinney & Nebeker law is practiced as a team; Burke represents the attorneys and professional staff who worked on the pro bono case for which he was recognized, he said.

"The case included district court proceedings, two appeals and an appellate mediation," Burke said; he helped protect his client’s safety and vindicated her constitutional right to choose her own attorney and direct her legal representation.

"This case was protecting her right to have a voice in the state courts," said Burke. "We had to file an appeal with the Utah Court of Appeals in part over the issue of her having her own lawyer. The district court judge had entered an order terminating my representation of her. She wanted to be able to instruct her lawyer on how to represent her wishes. We obtained an order that reinstated our representation and established her ability to have her own lawyer. I was very proud and privileged to provide her with that representation and to give her a voice for our state courts. She was an extraordinarily courageous young lady who stood up for herself and insisted on having her right to be heard by the courts."

Burke also was recognized for serving as the chairman of the Rules Committee for the United States Soccer Federation. "I also served last year as a mentor for a first-year lawyer in the Utah Supreme Courts mentoring program for new lawyers," said Burke adding that he helped a new lawyer become part of his profession.

Burke’s decision to become a lawyer came after he graduated from the College of the Holy Cross is Worcester, Mass., in 1993. Because he wasn’t sure at the time if he wanted to become a doctor or a lawyer, he took the admission tests for both fields following college. He received a response from the law school admission test first.

He attended the University of Utah’s law school. In 1995 he started as a summer associate at Ray Quinney & Nebeker and then became an associate in 1997. "I’ve been fortunate to practice law here among a group of extraordinary lawyers," he said.

For him, the best part of being a lawyer is having the opportunity to help people after their worst days or helping them through difficult situations, he said. "Good people sometimes have very difficult problems or find themselves in difficult circumstances," Burke said. "It’s a privilege in our profession to try to help people through those circumstances by giving them good counsel and helping them to achieve the best possible outcomes."