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BU Law News

A Quiet Legal Giant: Remembering Clinical Professor Robert Burdick

As director of the Civil Litigation & Justice Program for more than forty years, Professor Burdick impacted thousands of lives.

A dedicated teacher, mentor, attorney, and friend, Professor Burdick’s work impacted the lives of thousands of people, from his students and colleagues to the many clients helped by the program over the years. His careful guidance of the clinical programs, long tenure on the JD admissions committee, and support for numerous initiatives for alumni have had an enormous influence on the BU Law community.

Professor David Seipp, who served with Professor Burdick on the admissions committee, noted his “compassionate concern for every applicant and his particular advocacy for applicants who had volunteered for public interest and access to justice projects.”

“He was a humble, quiet giant among us,” Seipp says.

Under Professor Burdick’s leadership, the Civil Litigation & Justice Program became a model of clinical legal education. He consolidated its efforts from a series of outposts spread throughout the city to its downtown headquarters in the offices of Greater Boston Legal Services, and grew its practice areas to encompass employment, housing, and disability law, as well as a dedicated clinic to address access-to-justice issues. Through the clinical program, he helped impoverished, mentally ill, and disabled clients avoid eviction, obtain disability benefits, and keep themselves and their children safe from family violence.

Famous for baking birthday cakes for his colleagues and apple pies at the holidays, Professor Burdick’s generosity and work ethic is well known throughout the community. He was always ready to help students and colleagues with personal issues or to work through roadblocks related to teaching or professional responsibility. “That’s just who he was. He was the most supportive person,” says Connie Browne, clinical associate professor in the Civil Litigation & Justice Program. “His clinical teaching, in the field and in the classroom, was just incredible. Bob always approached his teaching and advocacy with caring, innovation, and thoughtfulness. He was our professor and advisor and mentor as much as he was for the students.”

As a student at BU Law, Professor Burdick reoriented his coursework so he could spend as much time as possible serving the clients of the Legal Aid Program, the predecessor of the Civil Litigation & Justice Program. After working for several years at Greater Boston Legal Services following his graduation, he joined the law school as a clinical instructor. He was asked to serve as acting director in 1977, and to lead the program permanently in 1979.

During his career, Professor Burdick helped improve the rights of the marginalized in several areas of law. He led significant litigation in a number of civil law cases involving anti-discrimination, tenants’ rights, and insurance company claims settlement practices. Exemplary cases include Rogers v. Dept. of Mental Health, in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court established the right of committed mental patients to refuse antipsychotic medication.

Nancy Shilepsky (’78) worked with Professor Burdick on the Rogers case and felt the importance of it. “It’s something that people are much more careful about now, but at the time the psychiatric establishment was claiming that the side effects of some the medications were symptoms of the illness. It’s now established that in massive doses, those side effects can do permanent damage.”

Now a partner in the employment litigation group at Sherin and Lodgen, Shilepsky credits Professor Burdick with helping her find her path in the law. “What I learned from Bob was that there is nothing more important than my obligation to protect and advocate for my client. That really has meant everything to me and to who I have become as a lawyer,” she says. “I found a calling through Bob’s inspiration. He was an amazing lawyer, an amazing person, and in my life, an amazing mentor.”

Professor Burdick’s contributions to the School of Law have been recognized with Dean’s Awards for both outstanding service and teaching, and with the Pro Bono & Public Service Faculty Award.

“I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to get to know Bob over the past two years,” Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig says. “His students, colleagues, and members of the broader legal community have been inspired by his steadfast commitment to representing the most vulnerable people among us, which he demonstrated time and again throughout his forty years leading our Civil Litigation & Justice Program. Few lawyers have had the impact on people’s lives, both through personal representation and through brilliant legal strategy that resulted in key changes in case law. Rarely does someone’s life’s work make such a tremendous positive impact on so many lives. He will be sorely missed.”

BU Law is gathering remembrances of Professor Burdick’s impact on the community through the form below. They will be collected and shared with Professor Burdick’s family and may be included in a memorial in a future edition of The Record magazine.

Professor Burdick’s family will be holding a virtual memorial service to celebrate his life on Sunday, August 23, at 11:00 am ET, and they have graciously invited any BU Law students, faculty, staff, or alumni who may wish to attend in honor his memory. Please email bobburdickmemorial@gmail.com to request the Zoom link and registration information.