Attorney Brent Burks is one-half of the team known throughout Chattanooga as The Insiders. Together with James Kennamer, he’s carrying on the personal injury work John McMahan pioneered in the early ‘90s. But even as he represents clients who have suffered injuries and are seeking reparation, as his predecessor did, he’s creating his own legal legacy.
At 43, Burks has earned a reputation that goes ahead of him into a room. Through firsthand experience and word of mouth, local insurance defense attorneys know Burks will go to trial if they do not offer his client a fair settlement. This gives him an advantage at the negotiating table.
“If things don’t work out in mediation, the other side knows we’ll go to trial. We’re not afraid of that and we won’t fall on our face,” he says.
A certified trial specialist, Burks is known to be a tough opponent in court, partly due to his ability to think on his feet. “The basic rule you learn in law school is to always know the answer before you ask a question, but I can ask a question and not care about the answer because I’m prepared to go either way. If I think the answer is going to be one thing but it’s another, I’ll take the person out on that limb. I like the unknown,” he says.
Burks’ opponents also know he’ll do whatever is necessary, within the rules, to win. That might not always make him the best-liked lawyer in the room, but it does at times help to make him the most effective lawyer in the room.
“That’s my job, and you might not like me during the trial, but when it’s over, I’m going to shake your hand,” he says.
A true gentleman, Burks holds his fellow attorneys in great esteem and says the facts, not good representation, are the deciding factor in most cases.
“I tell my clients I’m going to do a good job, and unless the other lawyer is inexperienced, he or she is going to do a good job, and we’ll cancel each other out and the jury will decide the case based on the facts,” he says.
Burks is also realistic with his clients. He shoots down any notion about helping a client to exact revenge on a defendant or “make someone pay,” but instead steers their thinking toward the issue at hand: securing a fair settlement in mediation or award in trial.
“None of our clients are going to break the bank of the defendants. I try to be reasonable and not over-evaluate my cases. But I will go to court if the offer being made to my client is unfair. Some of my best victories have been those in which the offer was so low, I had no choice but to go to court, and I ended up getting a lot more than was being offered,” he says.
Although Burks hates to lose, he’s a big believer in both sides winning, especially as he grows older. “Some cases have to be tried, but generally, there’s common ground on which both sides can win, and good lawyers will find it,” he says.
Burks is more than a good lawyer; he’s a good lawyer who enjoys what he does, largely because he likes people.
“I’m a people person,” he says. “There are lawyers with more book smarts, but I have people skills. I can talk with anyone, and that makes it easy for me to represent anyone. I represented a multimillionaire who started several companies and patented a bunch of products, and we got along well. And I’ve represented many blue collar folks, and I was able to talk with them, too.”
Above all, Burks enjoys helping people, rich or poor, through effective representation. “If you’re not helping people, then you’re practicing law to make money, which is not good. That’s when you become dissatisfied with your job,” he says.
Perhaps one of the reasons Burks gets along well with clients at every income level is because he grew up in a family of modest means. Despite this, his parents knew he was destined for better things. “I argued with them a lot, and they told me I needed to become a lawyer,” Burks says.
The seed Burks’ parents planted in his mind took root and grew. After attending Red Bank High School and graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he earned his law degree at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. However, the job he’d lined up during his third year in law school fell through when the senior partner of the firm at which he was going to work was killed in a car crash, so in 1994, he came home to ply his trade.
Burks went to work for attorney Sam Robinson, who hired him to “go out and get business.” As a result, Burks tested many different waters, from divorce, to criminal defense, to the small amount of personal injury work he was able to secure. He also spoke with all of the judges and asked them for appointments. After three years of piecemeal work, he signed on with McMahan.
McMahan had worked as an insurance industry trial lawyer for 15 years. During that time, he learned how insurance companies deal with personal injury claims, and he did not like what he saw. In 1992, he turned the tables on the insurance industry and began to parlay his “insider” knowledge as a personal injury lawyer for Clements & Schulman. Three years later, he founded the firm that bears his name. He hired Burks in 1997 and became his mentor.
Today, McMahan is of counsel, and Burks and Kennamer are the majority owners of the firm – the new Insiders. Burks couldn’t be happier.
“Becoming a plaintiff’s lawyer was the best thing that’s happened to me. I have a lot of good friends who do insurance defense work, and that’s a good way to make a living, but I love what I do,” he says.
As much as Burks enjoys his work, he understands the importance of striking a balance between his practice and the other aspects of his life. While being a majority owner places a heavy load of responsibility on his shoulders, it also allows him to carve out time for his wife and three children, with whom he likes to travel, and attend services at Brainerd Baptist. Burks also enjoys playing golf, running and following the Tennessee Vols.
“You have to keep stress at a minimum; otherwise, the practice of law will drive you crazy. The only way to do this until you’re 60 or 70 is to strike a balance. This can’t be all you do; you can’t let it absorb you. If you do, you’ll burn out. I covet my non-lawyer friends, and when I go home, I rarely talk with my wife about my day. I want to talk about our kids,” he says.
However, as half of one of the most prominent personal injury teams in Chattanooga, Burks always has plenty of work to do when he returns to the office. But the burden does not seem as heavy as it could because he likes his work – and he is helping people. This is the legacy he’s creating, and it more than lives up to the name of the firm he now owns.