About Karen
Karen Burns earned a foundation in liberal arts at Indiana University–East, graduating in 1999. She moved on to law school at Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, receiving her J.D. in 2003. Three years later she completed an LL.M. at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, in 2006.
Early in her career she pursued practical trial training, obtaining a Trial Skills Certificate from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. That training accompanied the start of her own practice. In 2003 she is listed as the managing lawyer at the Law Office of Karen M. Burns. By 2007 she was operating as the owner of that office, overseeing client matters and the day-to-day running of a solo practice.
Her career shifted again in 2011 when she became a partner at Burns Iwuji, PLLC. The move brought a new collaborative setting after years working under her own name. Her experience includes courtroom preparation and case management developed over more than a decade in private practice.
Burns is admitted to practice in Texas. She maintains ties to professional and alumni organizations. Her memberships include the Dallas Women Lawyers Association and the Dallas Bar Association, where she is listed as a member from 2014 to the present. She also belongs to the Indiana University Alumni Association since 2014 and was a member of SCMS from 2016 to 2017. These affiliations reflect both local bar involvement and connections to her academic roots.
Colleagues describe her courtroom preparation as methodical. Her Trial Skills Certificate is one indicator of that emphasis. She has managed a practice from solo ownership to partnership, handling procedural work and the logistical demands of running a law office. That trajectory has given her a view of cases from intake through trial readiness.
Clients and peers encounter a lawyer who balances litigation preparation with the administrative responsibilities of firm life. She has practiced in a variety of settings, from a solo office to a partnership model. She currently practices at Burns Iwuji, PLLC in Texas.
