Susan L. Burke, Of Counsel to Katz, Marshall & Banks, was profiled by the Washington Post on September 2, 2013. The profile highlighted Ms. Burke’s work on behalf of victims of sexual assault in the military. Ms. Burke began filing impact litigation in 2011 to reform the manner in which the military fails to prosecute rape and sexual assault. Most recently, Ms. Burke has been in the news as a result of her representation of a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman. The military judicial process forced the Midshipman to endure 30 hours of cross-examination (after a 2 hour direct examination) in a proceeding that ultimately may be ignored by the Superintendent.
The Washington Post profile discusses Burke’s past as a white-collar defense attorney and her transition into representing clients in difficult cases against the military. Burke represented those tortured at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and those killed by Blackwater. She currently represents soldiers suing Halliburton and KBR for operating open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has also focused a great deal of time raising awareness for and representing victims of sexual assault in the military.
Burke’s work has been the focus of two documentaries on the subject in the past decade: “The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” and “The Invisible War.” “The Invisible War” was partly the inspiration for Katz, Marshall & Banks partner Debra Katz and Project on Government Oversight Director Danielle Brian to submit an opinion editorial to Politico calling for increased whistleblower protections for members of the military.
It is a testament to the heavy burden Burke has carried on behalf of her clients over the past decade that she considers the transition to working at KMB as something of a break. As Burke told the Washington Post, “[i]t’s just nicer to work with other people,” and between “rape, child molestation and torture” cases, “sometimes you want to get away” to litigation that’s lighter in comparison.
