Jeffrey L. Burns

Jeff founded Burns Firm in 2021 to serve hard-working individuals and small businesses needing legal services to start, grow, and protect their livelihoods and nest eggs. Jeff has experienced thousands of lawsuits as a former commercial litigator and former Circuit Court judge, and he can draw on this wealth of experience to assist his clients with their needs. Jeff concentrates his law practice on business law, real estate law, property law, water law, asset-protection law, and simple estate planning. Before he took the bench as a Circuit Court judge, Jeff concentrated on complex commercial litigation, local government representation, and appellate law. He successfully argued cases before federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout Florida and Alabama in this pre-judge life. During his life as a judge, he presided over hundreds of business cases, real estate cases, and property cases – experiencing a broad range of business and real estate issues that likely could have been avoided with counseling before any lawsuit was filed. Jeff currently sits as a member of the Florida Supreme Court's Jury Instructions Committee for Business Cases. He has previously sat on the Editorial Board for the Florida Bar Journal, the premier source of practical articles on Florida law published by the Florida Bar to educate attorneys and non-attorneys on pertinent legal issues. Jeff has also been previously recognized for his pro-bono service by Northwest Florida Legal Aid. Jeff previously practiced with Anchors Smith Grimsley, one of the oldest firms in the Florida Panhandle. He represented small-business clients in commercial disputes, financial institutions in various civil lawsuits, individual clients in real property cases, and governmental entities as outside general counsel. Before that, he clerked with a private general practice firm in law school, worked for the Florida Department of Financial Services, and interned at the State Attorney's Office.