Most attorneys aren’t often confused with angels.

But Kelly Burris is not like most attorneys.

The shareholder at Ann Arbor-based Brinks Hofer Gilson and Lione is not only an expert in patent and intellectual property law, but she’s also an acclaimed pilot with a big heart.

Kelly Burris, left, in her 1962 Beechcraft Debonair with co-pilot Erin Recke.

So much so, she’ll receive the Michigan State Bar Representative Assembly’s Unsung Hero Award at a special ceremony today in Dearborn for her tireless work on behalf of Angel Flight Central.

The Kansas City-based charity is part of nationwide umbrella group of non-profits that enlist pilots to help deliver medical supplies or transport patients with medical conditions that prohibit them from flying commercial airlines. The flights are free and include service to specialized medical centers for people in need due to family or community crises.

Burris has logged dozens of missions and flown thousands of miles during her five-year affiliation with the group, which she considers more of a privilege than work.

“Flying is fun for me and I just love to do it, so Angel Flight is just another excuse to get in the plane and go,” said Burris, 44. “Part of me feels pretty guilty about getting an award for it.”

Burris is one of a few dozen pilots who register with Angel Flight for missions throughout the Midwest. She regularly accepts all the missions her 1962 Beechcraft Debonair can handle, said Judy Benjamin, the charity’s coordinator.

Burris is certified for land and water landings, and is often flying patients over Lake Michigan to Wisconsin and Illinois, as well as Cleveland and northern Ohio. In a few weeks, she’ll be flying to Wisconsin to pick up breast milk meant for premature babies in Ohio.

“She’s a dynamo,” Benjamin said. “She works full time, but always has the time to fly people in need. She’s a very caring person, and what she does means a great deal to a lot of people.”

This summer, she raised more than $5,000 for the organization by winning the 2009 Air Race Classic, a national flying competition for female pilots, in her just her second year of competition. (Read her blog about the competition here.)

Burris’ passion for flying started as a child growing up in the Detroit suburb of Berkley and then the East Lansing area. Her father, though never a pilot, worked on aircraft carrier control towers for the U.S. Navy, and regularly took her to air shows and taught her the intricacies of building model airplanes.

By the time she landed her first flight as a student at Western Michigan University, Burris was an aviation junkie hooked on the adrenaline and thrill of soaring the skies.

It translated well into her aeronautical engineering major. Upon graduation, Burris took a job with industry giant McDonnell Douglas and moved to St. Louis. For the next 11 years, she worked with McDonnel and Boeing in advanced design, ballistics research and virtual reality technology applications.

She said she found her second career as an attorney while obtaining her own patent in fiber optics.

Though she admitted never having a passion for law, it seemed like a sensible career path, given her engineering background and experience going through the patent process. So Burris attended night school at St. Louis University and earned her law degree in 1999 when the Clinton Administration was drastically cutting defense spending in lieu of domestic projects.

“It was a risk, but I knew it would be a good opportunity” said Burris, who moved to Ann Arbor in 2007. “There is so much out there and too many adventures to be had. I don’t want to miss any.”

Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach our news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.