Our History

Burke PLLC (formerly Burke Pyle LLC and Burke O'Neil) was formed in August 2005. We initially started our practice to focus on international human rights litigation and government contractor accountability, but we have continued to grow and take on more cases that are in line with our passion for exposing corporate wrongdoing and protecting citizens around the world. Our first case as Burke PLLC was the Abu Ghraib torture case against the multibillion dollar government contractor, CACI.

Over the years, we have also grown and expanded our whistleblowers litigation, bringing suits against Blackwater, KBR, Halliburton and even the individuals in charge of the Department of Defense, thanks to the courage of individuals who refuse to tolerate unethical and illegal behavior. We believe that every employee in an organization, regardless of the industry, should be treated with dignity and respect. We will fight for those we feel like they have not been.

We have a wealth of experience litigating complex federal court actions and focus on representing plaintiffs in cases involving fraud and whistleblowers, including the False Claims Act, human rights violations and environmental issues. In the past, as primarily defense attorneys much of our litigation work pursued defending pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and durable medical equipment providers who are subjected to government investigation or False Claims Act qui tam litigation. We had substantial success defeating claims asserted by the Department of Justice and False Claims Act qui tam relators. Among other victories:

• We obtained a fee award based on the Department of Justice’s bad faith in pursuing meritless False Claims Act claims.
• We prevailed against the Department of Justice in a bench trial held in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Along with co-counsel from Covington & Burling, we prevailed on a motion to dismiss against a qui tam relator alleging off-label promotion.
• We successfully represented the government of the Dominican Republic in an action for dumping ash on Dominican beaches. We obtained a six million dollar settlement, which has been used to remove the ash and remediate the beaches.