Mary Burns, Executive Legal Assistant for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club and NALS President: A Profile

Summary

Mary Burns is an executive legal assistant for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club and the outgoing president of NALS (National Association of Legal Secretaries). An experienced professional with more than 20 years of experience in the legal field, Mary is an expert in executive legal support and business operations.

Mary's career began after earning an associate degree in paralegal studies from MATC. She began her legal career working as an administrative assistant in a small law firm. After gaining experience in the field, she moved on to the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club in 2001 and has been working in executive legal support ever since.

Mary's experience in the legal field gave her the skills needed to become an executive legal assistant. She is responsible for providing executive legal support to the Brewers personnel, including providing legal advice and making sure all documents are properly drafted, filed, and processed. She also maintains all legal files, drafts contracts, and provides legal research support.

In addition to her legal duties, Mary has had many opportunities to hone her leadership skills. She has been a board member of NALS (National Association of Legal Secretaries) for the past four years and was elected president in 2019. In her role as president, she is responsible for providing leadership and guidance to the members of NALS. She is also responsible for implementing the goals and objectives of the organization.

In addition to her professional duties, Mary is passionate about giving back to her community. She volunteers her time with a variety of local organizations, such as the United Way, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Brigid Collins House.

Mary Burns is an executive legal assistant for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club and the outgoing president of NALS (National Association of Legal Secretaries). Mary has more than 20 years of experience in the legal field and is an expert in executive legal support and business operations. Some of her duties include providing executive legal support, maintaining legal files, drafting contracts, providing legal research support and providing leadership and guidance as president of NALS. Furthermore, Mary is also dedicated to giving back to her community. She volunteers her time with a variety of local organizations.
 

Mary Burns, Executive Legal Assistant at the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club

Maria Burns is the Executive Legal Assistant for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, one of the most respected Major League Baseball clubs in the country. She began her legal career in the fall of 1989 in Milwaukee and has worked for the Brewers since then.
 

Education of Mary Burns

Burns received her Associate of Science Degree in Paralegal Studies from Milwaukee Area Technical College in 1989. She has a Bachelor's degree in Legal Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
 

Experience of Mary Burns

Mary has been an Executive Legal Assistant with the Brewers since the fall of 1989. In addition to her position at the Brewers, she held the position of Executive Legal Assistant at a labor relations firm in the Milwaukee area and was an independent paralegal providing consulting services to attorneys and their clients.
 

Outstanding Achievements of Mary Burns

Burns is an outgoing President of the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALS). She is also a member of the Milwaukee Bar Association – Paralegal Section, Association for Women Lawyers (AWL) and the American Bar Association (ABA).
 

Commitment to Community Involvement

Mary has been an active member of the Brewers' community by volunteering as an instructor at the Milwaukee Area Technical College and serving on numerous boards and committees in Milwaukee. She is also an active member of the Board of Health, Parks and Recreation Commission and the Milwaukee Attorney Referral Service.

Milwaukee Brewers legal assistant Mary Burns said people interested in a legal career and sports law should consider working directly for sports teams. The atmosphere sounds a lot more relaxed than the average law firm.
 

Although Ms. Burns, 44, and her husband were big Brewers fans before she started working for the team, she said she never considered a legal career in sports. When she started the job in 1990, she said the Brewers were one of the only baseball teams in America with an internal legal department.

"We were the second ball club; the Boston Red Sox had an internal legal department," she said. "But since that time, they have almost all gone to having in-house counsel, which is much more economical, as you can imagine."

She learned sports law on the job from an expert: Wendy Selig-Prieb, daughter of baseball commissioner Bud Selig. The Selig family had owned the Brewers for almost 35 years but recently sold the team to Los Angeles entrepreneur Mark Attanasio.

Ms. Burns became involved because she worked as a legal secretary for Wendy Selig-Prieb at Foley & Lardner. Ms Burns had worked as a legal assistant at the firm for 10 years. When Ms. Selig-Prieb moved to the Brewers as in-house counsel, she asked Ms. Burns to come along as a paralegal. That was 15 years ago.

Learning sports law was fascinating, Ms. Burns said. But the job is not just about player contracts, although that is part of it. She said there are no fears that the new owner will try to take the Brewers out of Milwaukee.

"The business of baseball is really a business, so you do need your legal staff there with you to advise you on issues," she said. "There's never a dull moment. I actually used to do all of the player contracts, the scouting contracts, player development contracts, all of that. And we did a little shifting of responsibilities, so I don't do that anymore, but I do a lot of assisting with the drafting."

Ms. Burns said she became a legal assistant because she was offered a scholarship to become a legal secretary. Her father was ill and had open-heart surgery the year she finished high school. She wanted a higher education, but her options were limited.

"My only alternative was really if I wanted to go advance my education was to go into the military, which I really was prepared to do," she said.

But her shorthand teacher recommended the associate's degree scholarship, and Ms. Burns applied and won, which allowed her to stay close to her family and study. Ms. Burns has been active in NALS throughout her career and urges people to get involved in national associations because, she said, it's important to keep studying throughout a legal career.

NALS now certifies people in the legal profession and had its inaugural group of exams last March.

NALS has education sessions every Tuesday night at meetings across the country and now online, and Ms. Burns said the courses helped her on the job with the Brewers, which was more challenging than her job as a secretary at the firm.

"Being a smaller department, the duties expanded. I was very involved in human resources until we had to expand that department and contracts," she said. "For me personally, it really enhanced my knowledge of the law by going to monthly meetings, quarterly meetings for state associations, and by participating on the national level."

Ms. Burns' term as NALS president ends this March, and Mary Jo Denman (see next week's profile) will take over the presidency.

NALS classes are now offered online and are free to members. "Which is great for our members who sometimes are not able to travel either to their state meetings or to national meetings," Ms. Burns said. "They can still participate in free education."

NALS has about 5,000 members and bills itself as "an association of legal professionals." The group was formed in 1929 as an association for legal secretaries but has since expanded to include paralegals, people who work in the court system, court reporters, or anyone in the profession.

The NALS presidency meant Ms. Burns traveled a bit more to regional conferences, an experience she enjoyed.

"That's probably the reason why I wanted to be president the most: I really wanted to bring out the best in our members," she said. "I wanted them to be the best that they could be, not only personally but also professionally."

The main missions of NALS are to encourage education and urging people to sit for a certification exam.

"It's really about continuing your legal education, even after you're done with school and after you're certified and being creative and looking into areas you may have not thought of in the past," she said. "It's just finding what your passion is in the field of law and pursuing it."