In 1839, the local Congressman, William L. Goggin, submitted his name to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,[3] but Burks instead entered Washington College and graduated in June 1841 with the highest honors of his class.

After admission to the Virginia bar, Burks began a private legal practice in Bedford and adjacent counties.

[6] His younger brother Jesse Spinner Burks (1823-1885), who had followed him to Washington College but switched to nearby Virginia Military Institute for graduation, had won election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1853 and served a term in that part-time position alongside William W. Reese[7] before becoming a captain of the county militia, in addition to operating his own plantation.

[8] In 1859 Bedford County voters elected Edward Burks as one of their delegates, and he would win re-election and continue as a legislator and local lawyer during the conflict.

Budd, George S. Bernard and Virginia Attorney General (and Readjuster) Francis Simpson Blair represented Judge Hinton.

[22] His son and former partner Martin P. Burks would later also serve on the Virginia Supreme Court as well as live in the family's Locust Grove home through the Great Depression.