About Israel
Israel Burns pursued an unconventional academic path that combined practical law training and advanced scholarship. He earned his law degree from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 2008 and continued at Rutgers to complete an S.J.D. in 2011. He also holds a B.A. in political science and sociology from Hunter College. Those formative years set the stage for a career that moves between government service, firm practice and independent consulting.
Early in his career Burns worked in public-sector and regulatory settings. He served as a research fellow at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2009 and the following year took a legal internship at the U.S. Department of Labor. He also spent time as an employment and labor intern at Prudential Financial, Inc. These roles exposed him to enforcement mechanisms, administrative procedure and the day-to-day issues employers and agencies encounter.
After completing his doctoral work, Burns joined Seyfarth Shaw as an associate in 2011. At Seyfarth he practiced in a large-firm environment where employment and labor matters were a steady part of the docket. The position gave him experience on litigation and advisory matters for corporate clients, and it placed him in the kind of fast-paced practice that demands close attention to regulatory change and workplace risk.
In 2013 he founded Burns Consulting Company. As founder, he moved away from the billable-hour model of large firms and into a consultative role. His consulting work draws on prior government and firm experience. It also uses the research skills he developed during his S.J.D. studies. Clients and projects have ranged from policy analysis to practical guidance on personnel policies and compliance.
Burns’s background reflects a mix of scholarship and practical engagement. Time spent at the EEOC and Department of Labor gave him insight into how rules are enforced. Time at Seyfarth provided hands-on experience on client representation and counseling. The combination is visible in his later consulting work, where academic research and practical problem solving meet.
He is admitted to practice in New York. He continues to run Burns Consulting Company, where he advises on employment, labor and compliance matters. He currently concentrates his practice on employment and labor issues through Burns Consulting Company.
