burris

What burris does

Burris, formally John Burris, Nisenbaum & Curry (BNC), is a private civil rights and personal injury law firm founded in 1985 by John L. Burris. The firm is headquartered in Oakland, California (7677 Oakport Street, Suite 1120), and operates a secondary office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. BNC represents plaintiffs in matters involving police misconduct, civil rights violations, employment discrimination, personal injury, appellate litigation, and mental health crisis intervention — a practice mix anchored by John Burris's representation of Rodney King in 1991 and a sustained track record of Oakland-area police accountability cases. The firm is led by three named partners (John L. Burris, Ben Nisenbaum, Ayana Curry) with a combined 90+ years of legal experience.

The firm does not publish a product or technology platform in the conventional sense; its core offering is attorney-led legal representation supported by a content and earned-media presence (bnclawfirm.com website, blog, YouTube channel, and active accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook). AP News coverage is cited as an additional inbound channel. There are no disclosed proprietary software systems, data assets, or technology vendor relationships.

Commercially, BNC operates on a contingency fee model, with compensation tied to case outcomes rather than hourly billing. This produces revenue lumpiness tied to settlement and verdict cadence. Client acquisition is driven primarily by direct inbound from the firm's brand, content marketing, and referral networks rather than enterprise sales processes or institutional partnerships.

Name

burris

Legal name

John Burris Nisenbaum Curry

Website

https://bncllaw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Burris (BNC) is an Oakland-based private civil rights law firm founded in 1985 by John L. Burris, representing individual plaintiffs in police misconduct, civil rights, personal injury, employment discrimination, and mental health crisis matters on a contingency fee basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Contingency Fees: The firm operates primarily on a contingency fee basis for many cases, collecting attorney fees only when they win compensation for clients. This applies to civil rights cases, police misconduct cases, and personal injury matters.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

BNC is a civil rights-focused law firm providing legal representation in police misconduct, civil rights violations, employment discrimination, personal injury, appellate, and mental health crisis matters. The firm operates through six interconnected practice areas and primarily represents individual victims seeking justice and compensation through litigation, settlement negotiations, and appellate advocacy.

Product overview

BNC Law Firm is a unified law firm offering civil rights-focused legal services through six interconnected practice areas: Police Misconduct, Civil Rights, Personal Injury, Employment Discrimination, Appellate, and Mental Health Crisis. The firm, established in 1985, provides comprehensive legal representation with a focus on police misconduct and racial discrimination cases throughout California.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• numerous million-dollar verdicts and settlements
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Cochran Firm: National plaintiffs' firm with deep civil rights and catastrophic injury practice; directly comparable to BNC's police misconduct and personal injury focus, with similar high-profile, contingency-driven civil rights work.
• Ben Crump Law: Civil rights and police accountability firm led by a nationally recognized attorney; closely overlaps BNC's police misconduct, racial profiling, and civil rights plaintiff practice with contingency fee economics.
• Romanucci & Blandin: Chicago-based civil rights and personal injury firm handling police misconduct and catastrophic injury cases; comparable boutique scale and contingency-based civil rights plaintiff model to BNC.
• Greene Broillet & Wheeler: California-based plaintiffs' trial firm with civil rights, employment discrimination, and catastrophic injury practices; operates in the same California jurisdictions and shares a contingency-based plaintiff model with BNC.
• Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys: California personal injury firm with a plaintiff-side contingency model; shares BNC's California footprint and personal injury/wrongful death practice, though heavier focus on auto and product liability.

Regional players

• Wilshire Law Firm: California-based plaintiff firm with personal injury, employment, and civil rights cases; competes for similar California clients but with broader marketing and larger scale than BNC.
• Estey & Bomberger: California personal injury plaintiff firm; comparable on personal injury/wrongful death contingency work and California regional presence, though narrower practice scope.
• The Torkzadeh Law Firm: California-based employment law and personal injury firm; overlapping California plaintiff work in employment discrimination and serious injury matters similar to BNC's employment and personal injury practices.

Others

• ACLU of Northern California: Nonprofit civil rights organization litigating police misconduct and constitutional cases in California; not a direct competitor but an adjacent ecosystem player handling overlapping civil rights matters, sometimes as co-counsel.
• Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area: Bay Area legal organization that litigates civil rights matters; complementary to BNC's civil rights plaintiff practice and occasionally aligned in class action or impact litigation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/BNCL_Law
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCEYekwHfQ3J1fDwBAyId1WA
• Facebookfacebook.com/BNCLawFirm
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bncl-law
• Instagraminstagram.com/bnc_law
• TikToktiktok.com/@bncl_law

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about burris