James W. Burdick | Attorney

James W. Burdick specializes in complex criminal litigation, health care defense, licensing, discipline and reinstatement.  He is widely regarded as a premier expert in jury trials; post-conviction and post-sentencing matters; forfeiture litigation; and in successfully representing health care professionals in criminal, licensing, discipline and other administrative matters.  Over the years, Mr. Burdick has prosecuted and defended cases ranging from murder to money laundering; white collar criminal to drug conspiracies; racketeering to Medicaid, Medicare and Blue Cross fraud; de-participation and exclusion cases in federal and state proceedings; and virtually everything in between.  He has maintained this widely varied criminal practice in state and federal courts for over forty-two years, and regularly lectures to national and local criminal defense and health care groups.

Mr. Burdick has extensive experience in appeals and other post-judgment cases in both federal and state courts.  He has been extremely successful in obtaining freedom for a number of wrongly convicted citizens, some of whom were serving sentences of life in prison without possibility of parole, before they contacted Mr. Burdick. 

From his successful representation of the chief suspect in the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance/murder case, to his successful defense against first-degree murder charges in the notorious Jenny Jones Murder Trial, Jim Burdick is no stranger to high-profile cases and causes, and has received wide acclaim for his prudent and masterful handling of media relations to his clients' benefit.  He also knows exactly when and where it is necessary to say no comment.

Because of his unique experiences, successes and insights, Jim Burdick has been regularly tapped to serve as legal analyst for a whole host of television news programs, and has been a frequent guest on Larry King Live, Court TV, Geraldo, Good Morning, America and other national shows and has been profiled on the widely-acclaimed HBO Special Talked to Death.

Jim Burdick was licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan in1968, the State of California in 1976), and admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, various Federal Courts of Appeals, and to practice pro hac vice in federal courts in New York, California, Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Kansas and elsewhere.

Mr. Burdick received his Juris Doctorate Degree in 1968 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and was immediately brought into the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, where he served with distinction as a major crimes trial attorney, successfully prosecuting dozens of felonies and hundreds of misdemeanors, as well as grand jury investigations and special prosecutions.

For several years, Jim Burdick was a very active member of the Michigan Board of Medicine, a Special Assistant Attorney General and a Public Administrator for the State of Michigan.  He is a frequent author and lecturer, and is working on an extensive compendium of police, prosecution and judicial excesses, Loss of Innocence: The American System of Injustice.  He is currently Counsel to Hertz Schram, P.C., a nationally prominent litigation, family law, business and securities firm.