Joan Burda

Joan M. Burda is a writer, Anne Lister Codebreaker, and retired lawyer.  She writes for online and print publications on a variety of issues including legal, travel, and retirement. She also reviews books for the New York Journal of Books.

Joan is the author of the award-winning Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples, Third Edition (ABA 2015), Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Clients: A Lawyer’s Guide (ABA 2008), and An Overview of Federal Consumer Law (ABA 1998).

She spent 15 years as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law where she taught Wills, Trusts and Future Interests, and LGBT Legal Issues. Joan also spent 12 years teaching Contracts, Civil Procedure and Administrative Law in the Paralegal Program at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, OH.

Joan graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree, which means she took what she wanted and skipped all the boring classes. She received her law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law, located on a bluff overlooking Malibu beach and not at all conducive to studying so it’s a good thing the first two years were in a converted warehouse in Anaheim. A sidenote: during law school, Joan worked as a security officer (aka a “mouseifer”) at Disneyland. She lives in Lakewood, Ohio with her spouse, Betsy.