Secretary of Commerce, principal adviser to the Governor on workers’ compensation, and helped draft the major 1977 changes to the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act.
Practiced workers’ compensation law, exclusively representing claimants since 1980.
Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Fallin Commission on Workers’ Compensation Reform in the 1990s; major architect of changes in the workers’ compensation law in Oklahoma from 1990 to 2011, and again in 2019.
Re-wrote the entire workers’ compensation law (Title 85) in Oklahoma in 2011 as part of Governor Mary Fallin’s reform that resulted in the passage of SB 878.
Member of the Oklahoma Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation, representing the State Senate on the council, from 1990 to 2010. Reappointed by four Presidents Pro Tempore of the State Senate.
Speaker at more than 400 Continuing Legal Education seminars on workers’ compensation in Oklahoma and other states, 1985-present. Author or co-author of articles on workers’ compensation in Oklahoma and national publications and on national websites. His history of workers’ compensation was published in the Oklahoma City University Law Review.
A nationally recognized expert on OPT OUT in workers’ compensation.
Lead lawyer in presenting constitutional challenge of OPT OUT and other provisions of the new workers’ compensation law in Oklahoma—won 57 of the first 61 constitutional challenges—15 appeals pending in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Current member of Oklahoma Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Elections.
Trustee, Oklahoma Bar Foundation.
In 2019, Burke served as Special Master in the nation’s first trial of a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, State of Oklahoma v. Johnson and Johnson.
Board Member, and Chair of the Amicus Committee, Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group.
