Meet Kelly Burris: The Flying Lawyer who Gives Back

April 5th, 2011. By BrendaC

Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with Michigan attorney Kelly Burris of Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione…

Attorney Kelly Burris: “It’s a ‘win-win’ really…I get to do something good for people and I get to fly.” 

About once a month, attorney Kelly Burris gases up her 4-seater single engine Beechcraft airplane and does a run for the Angel Flight Central organization in the US. “Let’s see,” says the easy-going, friendly and thoughtful Burris from her office at Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione, “I’ve flown breast milk, cancer patients, kids and one time I flew a hospice patient, that was a difficult one.” 

It was a flight instructor who first suggested Burris get involved with Angel Flight as a way to gather more flying hours. Angel Flight is a non-profit organization of pilots and volunteers that provides free transportation to people who need to fly for medical or legitimate charitable reasons. 

It was a good fit Burris. She’d just become a partner at the patent law firm of Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione in Ann Arbor. Her hours were flexible and Burris had the time, the money and the plane—and she loves to fly. 

“Yes, I pay for it all,” says Burris who has been a volunteer pilot with Angel Flight for the last seven years. She calculates that each run costs about $400 to $500 and she believes it is worth every minute. 

“But it’s a ‘win-win’ really,” she says. “I have always known community service is important and I have always done it.  Maybe public service should be more of a sacrifice perhaps, but it isn’t. It is just really enjoyable. I get to do something good for people and I get to fly.” 

Among her first flights was a 4-year old boy who was visually impaired. He walked out onto the tarmac and wanted to touch the plane. “He said, ‘Mommy, it is chrome, I bet it’s pretty Mom’. Burris says her heart melted. “Then he said ‘Kelly Burris, pilot, 1962, Beechcraft Debonair, is it a G-Tail or a B-Tail?” 

That little boy is now 11 and Burris has flown him and his mother many times since then. 

Burris was an engineer before she became a patent attorney. “It is all technology to me, and I love technology,” she says. Many of her clients are outside the state and she often combines work meetings with Angel Flight. “I have several clients in St. Louis, so I will look for an Angel Flight on a day I am going down there. I will swing by Chicago and pick somebody up and then drop them in Urbana at the University there and go see my client.” 

In 2009 Burris won the Air Race Classic, a 2,700-mile cross-US race, sponsored by The Ninety-Nines, a female aviators group started in 1929 by Amelia Earhart. She donated the $5,000 top prize to Angel Flight. 

Through The Ninety-Nines Burris has actually raised even more money for Angel Flight over the last several years. “The first year I was in the Air Race Classic, I thought while we are flying through all these different towns why don’t I slap the Angel Flight logo on the plane and wear my Angel Flight shirt and see if we can raise some awareness and money. My co-pilot and I have done 3 races now and raised about $50,000.”

To learn more about Angel Flight Central, please visit www.angelflightcentral.org.

Kelly Burris earned her J.D. at St. Louis University. She also holds a B.S. and M.S. in engineering. Her practice focuses on international trademark law, electrical and computer law, intellectual asset management, licensing, patents, trademarks and unfair competition. Ms. Burris, a licensed pilot since 1984, is a long-time volunteer and fundraiser for Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic and Angel Flight Central, part of the Air Charity Network. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Angel Flight Central.

Tags: Angel Flight, Ann Arbor Michigan, Attorney Kelly Burris, Brinks Hofer Gilson and Lione, Charity, Lawyers Giving Back, Pro Bono, Volunteer Lawyer

This was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 at 8:27 am and is filed under Emerging Issues, Lawyers Giving Back . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.