Professor Sherri L. Burr

Sherri Burr

Regents Professor
A.B., Mount Holyoke College
J.D., Yale University
M.P.A., Princeton University
Member of the California Bar


Prize-Winning Books

Prize-Winning Speech

artlaw website

Arts & Entertainment Law Podcast

A Look Back At Election 2008 Podcast

Black History Month 2009 at UNM Podcast

Hampton Sides Kicks off New Arts Talk Season

Sherri Burr joined the UNM law faculty in 1988, after having received her A.B. (Politics) from Mount Holyoke College, her M.P.A (International Relations) from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and her J.D. from Yale Law School. In 1994 she received tenure and promotion to full professor. During the 2008-2009 academic year, she served as Acting Director of the Africana Studies Program in Arts and Sciences.

Professor Burr teaches international law, intellectual property law, art law, entertainment law, and wills and trust. She regularly brings guest speakers, such as authors Tony Hillerman, Rudolfo Anaya, and Max Evans to enhance the learning in her classes. Further, students who study Art Law, Entertainment Law, and Intellectual Property with Burr have an opportunity to participate in the making of ARTS TALK, a weekly television show that Burr produces and hosts.

ARTS TALK runs on Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Channel 27 in Albuquerque. Burr created the show while visiting at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law. Her first guest was Wally "Famous" Amos, author of several inspirational self-help books, including The Cookie Never Crumbles. Over the years, Burr and her students have interviewed actor Wes Studi (Avatar and Dancing With Wolves), cellist Yo-Yo Ma, entertainment law attorney Johnnie Cochran, screenwriter Duncan North (The Tao of Steve), painter-sculptor Betty Sabo, symphony conductors Guillermo Figueroa and Samuel Wong, and authors Paul Pearsall (The Heart's Code), Lois Ann Yamanaka (Blu's Hanging), Nita Tucker (How Not to Stay Single and How Not to Screw it Up), and Don Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements).

An internationally renowned lecturer, Burr has spoken at universities in Barbados, Canada, Chile, France, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and South Africa. In the United States, she has lectured at Dartmouth, Yale, New York University, the University of Iowa, and numerous other educational institutions. Her lectures to both university communities and the general public are well received for her wit as well as the wisdom she imparts.

Burr has written fifteen books and numerous scholarly articles in the area of intellectual property, art law, and international law that have been published in journals in the United States, Spain, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Burr's books on art law and entertainment law are considered primary sources in the field. Her 2004 books include: Art Law: Cases and Materials (William S. Hein & Co.); Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials in Film, Television, and Music (Thomson West); Entertainment Law Teacher's Manual (Thomson West) and Entertainment Law in a Nutshell (Thomson West). In 2006, she published two books in the field of international law: Quick Review of International Law (Thomson West), which won the 2007 New Mexico Press Women Award for best nonfiction instructional book, and Sum and Substance Audio Book on International Law (Thomson West). In 2007, she published Entertainment Law in a Nutshell 2nd Edition (Thomson West) and Wills and Trusts in a Nutshell 3rd Edition (with Mennell) (Thomson West). In 2008, she published Sum & Substance Audio Book on Entertainment Law (Thomson West), Supplement to Entertainment Law: Cases & Materials in Film, Television, and Music (Thomson West), and Quick Review of International Law 2nd Edition (Thomson West). In 2010, she published Art Law: Cases and Materials (Revised Ed. Aspen Press, with DuBoff and Murray), and the Teachers Manual to accompany the casebook. Hot off the presses in 2011 is Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials in Established and Emerging Media (Thomas West) and the accompanying Teachers Manual.

In addition to her books, Burr's article on Protecting Business Secrets in National and International Commerce published in the peer-reviewed Science Communications was considered ground-breaking for its empirical data analysis of the importance of trade secrets to the business community. Her chapter in the book Screening Justice won the 2007 New Mexico Press Women Award for best nonfiction book chapter. Burr has also written items for the general public. She has published travel articles on Alaska and New Mexico accompanied by her own photographs. From December 2000 until June 2003, she wrote a weekly column for the Albuquerque Tribune that includes analysis of politics, race, sports and entertainment. Burr's manuscript for Living with Nephew placed second in the 2006 Southwest Writers nonfiction book competition. Burr write a column called "Minding Finances for Writers" for the Southwest Sage, and currently writes four articles a year for that publication.

Burr has served as president of the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association and chair of the Art Law and International Law Sections of the Association of American Law Schools. She has also served on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law and on the board of the Arts Alliance.

Contact Information

Ph.: 505-277-5650
Fax: 505-277-0068
Office: 3241
Email: