Francis P. Burns III was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania in 1978.
Mr. Burns’ practice focuses principally on defense of product liability actions and all dimensions of insurance coverage including coverage opinions, declaratory judgment actions and bad faith. Coverage engagements have arisen under commercial general liability, professional liability, life and disability, commercial and personal auto, commercial property and homeowner policies. He has defended insurance companies in bad faith actions and counseled businesses confronted with high exposure suits but limited insurance. In the area of products liability, he developed and directed a national program for field investigation, discovery management, risk assessment, expert witness selection and trial preparation for a body of actions involving allegations of defective design and failure to warn. He has been admitted to practice on a pro hac vice basis in more than ten states in products cases. In 2003, Mr. Burns completed work on a Master of Laws in Health Law with special emphasis on health care insurance coverage, HIPAA privacy regulations, and fraud and abuse laws. Mr. Burns has also represented religious non-profits on a variety of matters, including insurance coverage programs, abuse claims, policies and practices for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, and the duties of persons who serve as directors or trustees on boards of non-profit charitable and educational corporations.
Bar Admissions
- Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals
- United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania
Affiliations
Mr. Burns is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Pennsylvania Defense Institute, Defense Research Institute (DRI), and the American Health Lawyers Association.
Mr. Burns was first appointed on June 30, 2014, as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules Committee and was reappointed to a consecutive three-year term that concluded on July 1, 2020.
Awards and Honors
Mr. Burns has lectured on the topics of case preparation and expert witnesses in the graduate program in trial advocacy at Temple Law School. He was appointed effective June 30, 2014, as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules Committee. Mr. Burns was reappointed to the Committee to serve a new three-year term commencing July 1, 2017.
Education
Mr. Burns is a 1975 graduate of St. Joseph’s College, earned his Juris Doctor from Villanova University School of Law in 1978, and his Master of Laws (Honoris Causa) from the Widener University School of Law Health Law Institute in 2003.