Why Choose Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella?
Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella P.C., a full service multi-practice Chicago-based law firm comprised of nearly 70 attorneys, serves clients in the Chicago area and nationwide. Our clients include publicly and privately held corporations, government entities, educational institutions, not-for-profit entities, individuals and entrepreneurs. Burke Warren attorneys bring substantial experience to the table in a wide range of practice areas. We pride ourselves on our unique ability to provide efficient, thoughtful and full legal services. Our business model – low leverage, minimal fixed costs, single office, diverse mix of clients and specialties, and flexible billing structures – is tailored to a core clientele who require high caliber service in a variety of practice areas, delivered at a reasonable cost. From its founding in 1992, Burke Warren has embraced a guiding philosophy that diversity in the workplace allows us to be stronger advocates for our clients, enhances the quality of the legal services we provide, and fosters an inclusive workplace environment.
At Burke Warren we help our clients manage risk by solving their legal problems. Large enough to provide a wide range of legal services, but small enough to be efficient and flexible in the manner in which those services are provided, we are committed to addressing each legal problem and each client—personally—through one attorney with the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to comprehend a broad spectrum of industries and issues—an attorney committed to understanding the unique nature of that client's business and concerns and possessing the specialized knowledge needed to deliver results.
Burke Warren is a dynamic mid-sized firm with a well-earned reputation within the Chicago business and legal communities. We’ve used that reputation to build a ground-up organization where entrepreneurialism fuels personal and professional growth, as well as financial reward, for our attorneys.
Burke Warren is pleased to announce it has been named to Vault’s 20 Best Midsize Law Firms to Work For in Chicago 2025 edition. Vault has a distinguished history of ranking the top law firms in Chicago but this year introduced a new ranking featuring the most prestigious midsize law firms in the city. Burke Warren secured its Top 20 spot in the Midsize Chicago ranking based on voting from associates who work in the Chicago region. Vault's 2025 Rankings are derived from Vault's Annual Associate Survey.
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Burke Warren named to Vault’s 20 Best Midsize Law Firms to Work For in Chicago 2025 edition |
Associate Experience
To better serve our clients, most of our matters are staffed with no more than two or three attorneys. For associates, this means unparalleled experience that larger firms cannot match. Litigation associates at Burke Warren can expect to spend as much time writing briefs, arguing motions and advising clients, as they will spend researching and reviewing documents. Corporate or real estate associates will spend as much time attending closings, and participating in negotiations, as they might spend preparing forms or performing due diligence. Making sure that associates have meaningful work experience is part of Burke Warren’s belief that hands-on experience helps new attorneys become better lawyers.
Work‒Life Balance
Practicing law is already hard work; the people you work with shouldn’t make it harder. It’s a value that Burke Warren has embraced since it was founded. When our attorneys leave the office, they pursue a variety of activities outside of the practice of law. Whether it's time spent with family or at a summer music festival, Burke Warren encourages all associates to take on manageable workloads and seek out the assistance of partners and peers in maintaining a reasonable work‒life balance.
Pro Bono
Our firm has a dedicated Pro Bono Committee that presents its attorneys with pro bono opportunities and facilitates community involvement. As part of Burke Warren’s commitment to pro bono work, associates have historically received an hourly credit for time spent on pro bono representation.
Experienced Attorneys
For an experienced attorney, making the decision to leave his or her current law firm is challenging. The actual or perceived potential for disruption in client relationships, financial well-being, and personal relationships leads most to consider such a move only after long and thoughtful deliberation.
Once the decision to leave has been made, however, finding the right opportunity with the right firm can be equally challenging. Each attorney’s needs are different, the capabilities and opportunities offered by each firm vary, and it is often difficult to get the true measure of a firm before really “living” there.
Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella recognizes the challenge of changing firms for experienced, capable, and economically productive lawyers. We’ve become a home for a number of experienced lawyers who have consistently found our business model and culture to provide them with great client service at appropriate hourly rates, a comfortable and flexible service culture, and enhanced financial opportunities. Our sensitive and individualized approach to the issues that invariably arise has resulted in a consistent track record of successful transitions for experienced lawyers.
When our experienced lateral transfers talk about what they found at Burke Warren, here are some of the key points they make:
- Serving the middle market. While Burke Warren is proud to represent some of the Chicago area’s most significant businesses and not-for–profit institutions, we embrace representation of entrepreneurs and their businesses and families. Our flexible service delivery and practice group model, our hourly rates and staffing, and our focus on the Chicago market make Burke Warren uniquely able and willing to serve the needs of entrepreneurial organizations and the middle market.
- Breadth of services and support. Consistent with our focus on entrepreneurial and middle market organizations, Burke Warren maintains a uniquely broad capability to serve the increasingly complex legal needs of our clients. Additionally, the firm’s investment in recruiting and developing legal talent, and in acquiring and utilizing industry leading technology, ensures that the firm maintains the supporting infrastructure required to comprehensively serve entrepreneurial and middle market organizations.
- Profitability. Burke Warren has consistently out-performed its peer group in per partner profitability. Our successful economic model includes prudent, hands-on cost management, an increasing emphasis on, and support for, marketing by both partners and associates, excellent realization rates, and an expectation that all lawyers maintain appropriate billable hours.
- Inclusive culture. It’s often difficult (and misleading) for participants to describe their own organization’s culture. What our lateral transfers tell us, however, is that Burke Warren is an easy place in which to integrate both work and social interaction; and that the firm’s balance between supporting individual achievement and promoting collective well-being is particularly well suited to long term, sustainable success.
- Stability. In an increasingly transient business environment, Burke Warren has maintained unusual stability among its lawyers at all levels. Consistent with this overall experience, and undoubtedly as a result of all of the other factors discussed above, Burke Warren has established an unusually successful track record of recruiting and, more importantly, retaining experienced lawyers.
For those looking to maintain and build an entrepreneurial and middle market practice, Burke Warren offers an unusually desirable opportunity. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your practice and ours in more detail. If you believe our firm might be the right opportunity for you, please contact Burke Warren partner Jeff Warren at 312.840.7020 or jwarren@burkelaw.com.