- Elected by State Bar membership
- Member since January 1, 2018
- Current term expires December 31, 2023
- James W. Burdick specializes in complex criminal litigation and health care licensing, discipline and reinstatement. In addition to his practice, he has been appointed by chief federal judges to chair, and to be a member of, federal panels evaluating applicants for the position of United States Magistrate Judge, and for sitting Magistrate Judges applying for renewal of their tenure. He has chaired an Attorney Grievance panel since the 1980’s, hearing and deciding a multitude of complaints.
He has represented clients throughout state and federal courts. Upon earning his Juris Doctorate at University of Michigan Law School, he was recruited by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, where he tried dozens of felony cases of all types.
During his career in private practice, he has represented hundreds of individuals in criminal investigations and prosecutions; in probate courts (including as an Assistant Public Administrator); in circuit courts as a Special Assistant Attorney General for Accident Fund cases; and in other civil and administrative matters, mostly representing including health care practitioners in discipline and reinstatement matters. For many years he was a regional field counsel for the Federal National Mortgage Association, appointed by the President. For seven years he was an active member of the Michigan Board of Medicine.
He has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals; the Eastern and Western Federal Districts of Michigan and pro hac vice in numerous federal district courts around the country (New York, Kansas, Tennessee, Hawaii, Florida, etc.) He is licensed to practice in Michigan and California.
In 2017 he was honored to have been elected by his fellow lawyers across the state to the position of commissioner of the JTC; his term started in January, 2018. Mr. Burdick is currently the Commission's Vice-Chairperson.