BARBARA A. BURR
EXPERIENCE
Barb has many years of experience representing men and women in all aspects of domestic relations law, from divorce and custody to property distribution and financial support. Her practice is client-focused, emphasizing family-friendly approaches that minimize conflict and help clients move forward with their lives in the most positive way possible. She has served as Collaborative counsel, negotiated amicable resolutions, drafted marital settlement agreements, and litigated on behalf of hundreds of people. Barb is licensed to practice in DC and Maryland.
Also a trained mediator, Barb frequently serves in that capacity in family-law proceedings. As a former Certified Public Accountant, as well, she brings exceptional financial expertise and dispute resolution skills to family law matters.
COMMITMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS
As founding president of the DC Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Barb is one of the pioneers of Collaborative Practice in the DC area. Also a founding member of the Collaborative Practice Training Institute, Barb trains others in collaborative practice and conflict resolution. She also lectures frequently in a variety of venues on family law issues, collaborative law, and mediation. Barb co-founded two non-profit organizations, the Collaborative Project of DC and the Collaborative Project of Maryland, which strive to bring the benefits of Collaborative Practice to families of low and modest means.
Barb co-founded and helps run Third Thursdays, a free divorce workshop and has served as an instructor for the District of Columbia Bar Association’s Pro Se Divorce Clinic and as a family law expert at the Family Law Self-Help Center. She is a former Treasurer and was a long time Board member of the District of Columbia Women’s Bar Association. She is a member of the family law sections of the District of Columbia Bar Association and the Bar Association of Montgomery County.
A Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice earlier in her career, Ms. Burr has extensive trial experience. She has served as co-counsel in groundbreaking civil rights cases before the United States Supreme Court and as adjunct professor of law at American University.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Ms. Burr received her law degree with honors from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Washington, where she was also a Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma honor society member. She also received certification as a CPA. She clerked for the Honorable Judith Rogers, then Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and is admitted to practice in DC and Maryland.
ACCOLADES
Barb has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). Comprising the top matrimonial attorneys throughout the nation, AAML members are recognized as preeminent family law practitioners with the highest levels of knowledge, skill, and integrity.
Barb has been named one of DC’s Best Lawyers by the Washingtonian Magazine since 2015.
Barb has been named as a Super Lawyer every year since 2009.
Barb and the Burr Law Firm are consistently named as one of the area’s Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms by, among others, US News & World Report and Best Lawyers®.
Barb was named as a Top Woman Lawyer in the Northeast in Arrive Magazine.
She has received the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent® level of legal ability.
Barb has been named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
She is a contributing author to the ABA Commission on Women’s Book, Road to Independence, 101 Women’s Journey’s to Starting Their Own Law Firm.
She has appeared in the news media, including on Women of Vision with Lori Brooks, on WASH-FM, discussing Collaborative Divorce. And also on NBC News 4, discussing the complexities of shared custody during the pandemic.
bburr@burrlawfirm.com