Jim Burlison was born in 1958 and is a native Missourian. He received a Bachelor of Science in Political Science in 1983 and a Juris Doctor Degree in December 1986, both from the University of Missouri at Columbia. He obtained his license to practice law in the State of Missouri in April 1987 from the Missouri Supreme Court.

Upon obtaining his law degree, Mr. Burlison served as Legal Counsel and then General Counsel for the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for the Missouri Legislature in Jefferson City. He then served briefly filling part of an unexpired term as Macon County Prosecuting Attorney.

Mr. Burlison then became associated with the Law Firm of Dan B. Dildine and G. John Richards as an Associate of that firm and as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of Lincoln County. He continued as Assistant Prosecutor until joining McIlroy and Millan in 1997. In 2019 he retired from McIlroy and Millan and founded Burlison Law in January of 2020. 

Professional memberships include the Missouri Bar Association and the Lincoln County Bar Association. Mr. Burlison is the author of four volumes of the West Publishing Company Missouri Practice Series: Procedural Forms, Volumes 8 and 9, 3rd Edition; Petitions, Volume 10, 3rd Edition; and Statutory Forms, Volume 11, 3rd Edition. These treatises are updated annually. He has served as city attorney and city prosecutor for several East Central Missouri communities.

Mr. Burlison enjoys a limited practice of law limited to the areas of real estate law and estate planning.