Beverly Hall Burns is a principal and deputy chief executive officer of the firm. She practices labor law, representing both private and public sector employers in NLRB and state employment relations matters; labor negotiations; contract administration; and arbitration. She represents clients on employment discrimination matters before federal and state agencies and courts; she handles Section 301 and other employment-related litigation, and general labor-related matters. She is also part of the firm’s School Law Group, specializing in school labor matters including cases under Michigan’s Teacher Tenure Act as well as in special education, student discipline, Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act issues. She is a member of the Michigan Bar Association’s Labor Law Section; the American Bar Association’s Labor Law Section and Committee on Law Firm Management; Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association; Michigan Council of School Attorneys; and National Council of School Attorneys. She is past chair of the Grosse Pointe War Memorial Board of Directors, serves on the board of directors of the Economic Club of Detroit as well as the Detroit Athletic Club, is a fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, and Chair of the board of trustees of the Michigan Women’s Foundation. She is a member of the Michigan State University’s Alumni Association Board of Directors and chair of the Alumni Board of the MSU College of Arts & Letters. She is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Michigan. In March 1977, she was named by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of Detroit’s “Most Influential Women” and was one of Grant Thornton’s five “Executive Woman of the Year” honorees in 2003. Ms. Burns is listed in the Labor and Employment Law Section of the 2006 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. She has given live testimony before the Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., and written many articles on such topics as “How to Comply with New Handicapper Protections Law,” and “Developing and Implementing Effective Policies against Sexual and Racial Harassment.” She is a frequent speaker and offers seminars and training for clients on school or employment-related topics. Ms. Burns joined the firm in 1979, and left for a brief two-year period in 1981 when she was a professor at Glassboro State College, New Jersey and a fellow in the Wharton School’s Industrial Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She rejoined the firm in September 1983. Ms. Burns received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, and a B.A., with honors, from Michigan State University.