Once again, Jeff Burns has been named to the Marquis Who’s Who list for his focus and dedication to truck accident litigation.
Press release distributed from Marquis about Burns’ inclusion:
Jeffrey Burns Celebrated for Dedication to the Field of Law
Burns focuses his practice on truck accident litigation with Dollar, Burns, Becker & Hershewe, LC
KANSAS CITY, MO, October 2019, Jeffrey Burns has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
An acclaimed attorney with decades of experience in Truck Accident Law, Burns has excelled as a partner of Dollar, Burns & Becker since 2005. Previously, he gained valuable expertise as an attorney with Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Over the years, Burns has fought to make the trucking industry safer on a national level, spending time in Washington D.C. and Kansas City to educate lawmakers and regulators and to advocate for rule changes, stronger laws and stricter enforcement.
In his first truck accident case, Burns represented a client who lost his wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 9, in a crash caused by a fatigued driver. At the time, Burns had a young daughter and other children, himself. After learning about the myriad of safety problems in the trucking industry, he feared for their lives on the highway and pledged he would work to make our nation’s highways safer. In the years since, Burns has limited his practice to truck accident cases and has been nationally recognized for his work. To date, Burns has handled truck accident cases in 38 states. He was the first lawyer in Missouri to become Board Certified in Truck Accident Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and was among the first 23 in the United States to obtain such certification.
After initially pursuing an education at Truman State University, Burns continued his academic efforts at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid; the University of Leicester, England, Faculty of Law; St. Louis University School of Law; and the University of Missouri School of Law. He retains his professional alignment with the Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.), the Missouri Bar, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), and is a former chair of the American Association for Justice Interstate Truck Litigation Group. Dedicated to his community, Burns contributed to the National Academy of Sciences’ Truck and Bus Safety Committee as a committee member for nine years and continues as a “Friend” of the committee and served on the Board of the Brain Injury Association of Western Missouri and Kansas for nine years.
In 2013, the United States Secretary of Transportation appointed Burns to the National Freight Advisory Committee, which was charged with advising the Secretary regarding the future of freight transportation.
With a plethora of knowledge at his disposal, he has provided his wealth of expertise to dozens of publications and speeches, including “Inadequate Minimum Liability Insurance Requirements for Motor Carriers Presents a Clear and Present Danger on Our Highways” for the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, “Direct Claims Against the Motor Carrier and Dealing with the Admission of Agency” for the American Association of Justice and “Fatigue and the Law” for the Wake Up Michigan Symposium. In his spare time, Burns enjoys spending time with his wife, Deanna; four sons, J.J., Justin, Jacob and Jackson; two daughters Jennifer (Moriarty) and Jordan; and five grandchildren, Keaton, Foster, Brooke, Declan and Beckett.
For his exemplary professional accomplishments, Burns has accepted accolades on many occasions. During the late 1990s, he was presented with the Unsung Hero Award from Missouri Lawyers Weekly and the Lifesaver Award from Parents Against Tired Truckers. He subsequently accepted the Distinguished Service Award from the Truck Safety Coalition and recognition among Best Lawyers in America from 2005 to the present. Since the mid-2000s, he has been honored as a Super Lawyer and among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America by the American Trial Lawyers Association. Looking forward, Burns intends to continue to advocate for the utilization of technology to eliminate most truck accidents.