Liberty Law welcomes longtime judge as first Jurist in Residence

Following a 42-year law career in Virginia, former Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge R. Edwin Burnette Jr. joined the Liberty University School of Law in February as the first Jurist in Residence in the program’s history.

After receiving his J.D. from the College of William & Mary in 1978, Burnette spent 23 years practicing law at Edmunds & Williams, the oldest and largest law firm in the Lynchburg area. As an active member of the Virginia State Bar, Burnette held various positions during his years of practice and served as President from 1993-1994. In 2001, Burnette was appointed as a judge in the General District Court, and in 2015, he ascended to the bench of the Lynchburg Circuit Court.

He will act in an advisory role to both faculty and students, feeding into the classrooms and programming to continue Liberty Law’s success in training the next generation of law professionals. As someone who was active in the courtroom as recently as December 2019, Burnette has an insight into the latest technologies students can use while in school.

“I’ve been talking to other professors, particularly in the trial advocacy area, about the technology that you have here at the law school in the mock trial courtrooms and about maybe upgrading and updating some of the audio/visual capabilities being used now in courts across the country,” Burnette said. “Right now, I’m being used as a resource for the faculty, helping to add my experience as a judge to the teaching experience and the students’ learning experience.”

While his responsibilities and duties are still being developed through discussions with Liberty Law Dean Keith Faulkner, Burnette said there is a possibility he will also teach courses in the near future. Burnette served as an adjunct professor at William & Mary Law School from 1996 to 2001 and later taught trial advocacy at Washington and Lee University Law School beginning in 2003.

“I’ve always enjoyed the teaching aspect as a way to kind of balance what was my law practice and then my time on the bench,” Burnette said. “Having practiced law for years and then been on the bench, I can bring the perspectives to the students of what it is like to practice law and take care of the clients and issues.”

Like Faulkner, Burnette values a practical and hands-on style of education that will help students pair their knowledge of law gained through the classroom and textbooks with time spent in realistic scenarios. This goal of implementing practical experiences into the program has led to the school hosting actual appellate hearings of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in 2019, and the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals last month.

“It’s one thing to learn the law from books, but it’s another thing to see how it actually plays out in the courtroom or in commercial transactions or other things that students are likely to find when they get out there,” Burnette said. “They need to know how to argue a motion, select juries, work with different judges, and speak about law with people other than their fellow law students.”