John Allen Burgess

Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program

Background

John A. Burgess, a professor of practice and executive director of Fletcher’s Master of Laws (LL.M.) program, teaches courses on “the law of the sea” and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to his retirement in 2013, Burgess practiced law at the global law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr for 37 years. During that time, he chaired the firm’s corporate and international practice groups and served on its management committee. He has represented for-profit, NGO, and university clients in a range of transactions throughout Western Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He was regularly listed in Best Lawyers in America and the Massachusetts “Super Lawyers” list in areas of international trade, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law.

A graduate of Yale University (B.A. in History) and Harvard Law School (J.D.), Burgess is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of Branford College at Yale University, an overseer at WBUR-FM, and former president of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. He has lectured on international mergers and securities law at the University of Iowa and Peking University School of Transnational Law, has participated in panels or seminars relating to law of the sea in Taipei and Reykjavik, and is a permanent lecturer at St. Gallen University in Switzerland.