John L. Burris is an Oakland civil rights attorney specializing in police misconduct. He has represented over a thousand victims of such misconduct over the last 40 plus years including many death cases.
His work has resulted in reforms or new policies in the area of canine use, the use of deadly force, the use of hog tying and pepper spray, proper police treatment of the mentally impaired, public strip searching and tasers. In 2003, as co-counsel with Jim Chanin, Attorney Burris settled a class action suit against the Oakland Police Department. During the case, referred to as the “Riders” they represented 119 plaintiffs. Aside from the 11 million settlement, part of the case settlement resulted in a court ordered monitor to facilitate specific reforms concerning racial profiling, use of deadly force, and disparate officer discipline within the Department.
He successfully represented over 20 South Asian women who were sexually assaulted by an on-duty police officer resulting in the officer’s criminal prosecution and series of departmental reforms to track officers’ whereabouts when on duty. He settled a jay walking case that resulted in many procedural justice reforms. In a public strip search cases he was co-counsel representing 40 African American men who were subject to public strip-searching. The case settled for $4 million plus. He has had other cases involving wrongful deaths related to police shooting of unarmed black men. Most recently in 2020 he and co-counsel settled a wrongful death case for $5.7 million on behalf of the family of a man was pursued by officers for a bicycle riding violation. Later in 20/21 he settled 5 cases for over 4 million dollars where young men were killed while in custody or unarmed. He received a jury award of 11 plus million dollars in a case where a young Vietnam man was shot in the back by a San Jose officer. He also received a jury award of $5.9 million for a man who had a gun and who was shot in the back as he tried to surrender. Also, in late 2021 and 2022, he settled two cases for $4.9 and $4.5 million respectfully where the same officer shot and killed two mentally impaired young men. That officer received a sentence of 6 years in state prison for unlawfully discharging his firearm multiple times into a moving car.
Attorney Burris has represented many high-profile clients during the course of his career including the Rodney King civil case, with a jury verdict of $3.8 million, Oscar Grant’s family settlement of $2.8 million (Fruitvale Station movie), the late rapper Tupac Shakur in his police brutality case, actor Delroy Lindo, NBA players Gary Payton and Jason Kidd, NFL player Keyshawn Johnson and a number of public officials and employees including the former police chief of San Francisco. Some of his most emotional and tragic criminal defense cases have involved the youngest person (6 years old) prosecuted for attempted murder, a female college student accused of neonaticide and the “cocaine mom” charged with murder of her newborn twins who died as she binged on cocaine.
Attorney Burris is a frequent speaker, panelist and lecturer on police and criminal justice issues. He is the author of Blue vs. Black: Let’s End the Conflict Between Cops and Minorities. Down through the years he has provided legal analysis for a number of national and local news media including MSNBC, CNN, and FOX News. For years he regularly hosted a weekly radio program on KDIA, entitled Legally Speaking.
He is married to retired law Professor Cheryl Amana Burris, North Carolina Central School Law, they have a blended family of 9 adult children, 20 plus grands and 5 plus great grands.