R. Burke McLemore, Jr.
partner
Appellate Practice, Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith, Labor & Employment Law, Subrogation, Workers’ Compensation,
47
Years Experience
5
Practice Areas
1
Locations
Chair Emeritus of the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Section, Burke’s practice encompasses both trial and appellate representation of employers and carriers from the Maryland line to New York. Burke’s significant cases include Leon E. Wintermyer v. WCAB, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that rewrote the standards for review of administrative agency decisions.
Burke provides risk reduction and management advice to clients facing workers’ compensation and employment law claims. He applies his 44 years of defense experience to complex cases bridging employment torts, workers’ compensation, and subrogation. For over a decade Burke has been recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, and for the past 28 years he has annually been recognized in Best Lawyers in America, and in 2021 was named “Lawyer of the Year” in the field of workers’ compensation.
The author of Heart Attacks and the Pennsylvania Workman’s Compensation Act, he regularly contributes to Pennsylvania Bar Institute presentations, and served on the Board of Directors of the Institute and as an officer of the Institute. Burke is former Chair of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Council; is a past President of the Dauphin County Bar Association, and currently serves in PBA’s House of Delegates. He was appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to the Court’s Disciplinary Board in 2012. In 2014 the Court appointed him Chairman of the Board.
Burke formerly served as President of Dickinson Law School’s Alumni Association, receiving the school’s Distinguished Service Award. In 2007 he was named Outstanding Alumnus by the school. He was elected to three terms on Camp Hill Borough Council, the final term as Council President. He served as statewide Chairman of the Centennial Anniversary of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, receiving the 2016 PBA Special Achievement Award for those efforts. Burke was the 2014 recipient of the Irvin Stander Memorial Award for professionalism and dedication to the practice of workers’ compensation law. In 2016 Burke was elected a Fellow of The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. He served as an adjunct faculty member of the Dickinson School of Law, where he taught workers’ compensation law. In 2017 he was appointed a federal mediator by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
