John L. Burnett was born and raised in Little Rock.  He received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1974 and his J.D. from the University of Georgia in 1977, where he was Articles Editor of the Georgia Law Review.  He served as law clerk to Hon. G. Thomas Eisele, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, in Little Rock from 1977-79.  From 1979 to the present he has practiced labor and civil rights law, representing unions and individuals.  He has been listed in Smith & Naifeh, The Best Lawyers in America, for over 25 years, is rated “AV” by Marindale-Hubble, and has been profiled by and repeatedly listed in SuperLawyers magazine.

John L. Burnett is also actively involved with the ACLU.  He has served the ACLU as a cooperating attorney in various cases since 1980, and has chaired the Arkansas affiliate’s legal committee for over 25 years.  He was elected to the Arkansas ACLU Board of Directors in 1987 and has served continuously since then.  In 1989 he was elected President of the Board, and served in that office through 1994.  He served as the affiliate’s member of the ACLU National Board from 1997-2001.