Elizabeth Middleton Burke

Chair, Fourth District

Elizabeth Middleton Burke '94 is a resident of Mt. Pleasant and is a Partner with Rogers Patrick Westbrook & Brickman, LLC. Mrs. Burke is a graduate of the Honors College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English with Departmental Honors and a member of Alpha Delta Pi. She practices civil litigation with an emphasis on products liability.

A South Carolina native, Mrs. Burke was born in Hartsville and grew up in Lake City. A testament to the value of a liberal arts education, Mrs. Burke was preparing for medical school when she realized during her senior year that her academic strengths and interests were much better suited for law school. She changed course and received her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1997. She clerked for the Hon. Paula H. Thomas before beginning her career in litigation at Suggs & Kelly, P.A. in Columbia. She next served as a prosecutor in the Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor's office in Horry County. She joined Richardson Patrick Westbrook & Brickman in 2003.

Prior to serving on the Board of Trustees, Mrs. Burke served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors from 2003 through 2012, and as its President from 2010-2011. She is the 2011 recipient of the Honors College Distinguished Alumni Award, and has served on the Honors College Advisory Board, the Friends of the Library Board, and as an ex officio member of the Foundation Board. She is an active member of the South Carolina Association for Justice and the Southern Trial Lawyers Association. In 2016, Mrs. Burke was awarded the Gold Compleat Lawyer Award, presented by the USC Law School Alumni Counsel.

Mrs. Burke is married to Richard Cobb Burke, a law school classmate, who proposed to her on the Portico of Randolph Hall. They have a daughter, Katherine.