John A. Burke

John A. Burke serves as Supervising Deputy City Attorney in the General & Complex Litigation division of the Office of the Oakland City Attorney. He handles and supervises the defense of the City of Oakland and its employees in a variety of litigated matters, including inverse condemnation, wrongful death, personal injury, wrongful termination cases, and lawsuits alleging statutory or constitutional violations.

Before joining the Oakland City Attorney’s Office in 2022, Mr. Burke spent more than 30 years in private practice litigating and trying cases, including the last 15 years at Bishop | Barry, PC in Emeryville, where he managed the firm’s complex litigation and general liability trial team. He has a BS, with honors, in Biochemistry from San Francisco State University and a J.D., with honors, from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and the McAuliffe Honor Society. Mr. Burke also externed for the Honorable Edward A. Panelli, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court.

Mr. Burke has been an invited CEB speaker since the 1990s. He has presented and moderated on a variety of civil litigation topics, including "Utilizing Dispositive Motions;" "Preparing Witnesses for Deposition and Trial;" "How to Present and Attack Documentary & Demonstrative Evidence;" "Using and Responding to CCP 998 Offers;" "Summary Judgment and Other Dispositive Motions;" "A Complete Guide to PMQ (aka PMK) Depositions;" "Strategic Tips for Successfully Propounding & Opposing Written Discovery;" and many others.