Bobby R. Burchfield
Partner
Washington, D.C.
T: +1 202 756 8003
F: +1 202 756 8087
bburchfield@mwe.com
Bobby R. Burchfield is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Bobby serves on the Firm’s Management Committee and as co-partner-in-charge of the Firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
Bobby has practiced in the area of complex corporate litigation since 1981. He has been named three times as one of the top 500 lawyers in America by LawDragon, as one of the top 261 commercial litigators in the United States by Who’s Who Legal: USA; as one of the top 100 lawyers in the D.C. area by Super Lawyers; and as one of the top trial lawyers in the D.C. area (Legal Times, June 16, 2003). He has been listed in several editions of Best Lawyers in America, and is highly rated by Chambers USA. By appointment of President George W. Bush, he served on the Antitrust Modernization Commission, which issued its Report and Recommendations on April 2, 2007.
Bobby has been lead securities defense counsel for such companies as Ebasco Services, Inc., Itochu International Inc., and Bank One, as well as for corporate executives; in major antitrust litigation for such clients as Amgen, United Airlines, E.I. duPont de Nemours, the National Football League, and the American Automobile Association; RICO defense for such clients as Tenet Healthcare Corporation f/k/a National Medical Enterprises; class action defense for such clients as CNH Global; and corporate takeover defense for Total-Tel USA Communications, Inc. On behalf of the Republican National Committee and other political parties he argued before the United States Supreme Court in their constitutional challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, 124 S. Ct. 619 (2003).
Jury Trials. Bobby has tried cases to juries on behalf of a number of clients, including American Can (contract/antitrust), NN Ball & Roller (contract), Ebasco Services, Inc. (securities class action), ENSERCH Corporation (insurance coverage for professional liability), Dow Corning Corporation (insurance coverage for product liability), The Washington Post's subsidiary Legi-Slate (promissory estoppel), and the RNC (defamation). Bobby has never lost a jury trial.
Bench Trials. Other trial experience includes bench trials for the RNC, Dow Corning, CNH Global, and Total-Tel USA Communications, Inc., numerous preliminary injunction hearings, and administrative trials before such agencies as the International Trade Commission and the Federal Election Commission.
Arbitrations and Mediations. Bobby has served as lead counsel in a number of major arbitrations, including two for the National Football League (antitrust and contract), two for Newport News Shipbuilding (contract), two for New Holland North America (dealer termination), one for Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Corporation (contract), and one for Tenet Healthcare Corporation (contract). Bobby has also led mediations for such clients as DuPont (antitrust and Lanham Act) and Tenet Healthcare (RICO).
Appeals. In addition to arguing McConnell v. FEC in the United States Supreme Court, Bobby has argued over a dozen appellate cases, before four different U.S. Courts of Appeals, the D.C. Court of Appeals, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and the Louisiana Court of Appeals. Among those cases were an environmental case for Exxon Corporation, retiree health benefits class actions for CNH America, a complex interpleader and tax case for Industrial Bank of Washington, federal election law and First Amendment cases for Bush-Quayle '92, and an insurance coverage and securities fraud matter for ENSERCH.
At The George Washington University Law School, Bobby was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. From 1979 to 1981, he clerked for Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served in 1992 as General Counsel of President George H. W. Bush's re-election campaign. Bobby served as the President of the Wake Forest Alumni Association, as National Chair of the Wake Forest Fund, and currently serves on the Wake Forest University Board of Trustees. He serves on the Board of Advisers at The George Washington University Law School and the Board of the Georgetown Pediatric Center. In 2006, he received Wake Forest’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a member of The Economic Club of Washington and formerly served on the board of the National Republican Lawyers Association. Bobby is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
Education
- George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1979
- Wake Forest University, B.A., 1976
