Alison Arden Besunder

Practice areas

Estate & Trust Litigation, Estate Planning & Probate, Appellate, Business Litigation, Elder Law

Focus areas

Estate Planning, Guardianships & Conservatorships, Living Wills, Power of Attorney, Probate & Estate Administration, Trusts, Will Contests, Wills

Alison Arden Besunder, an accomplished attorney, currently holds a partnership at Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP and serves as the Chair of the Trusts + Estates Practice. Before joining Goetz Fitzpatrick, she established her own firm, Arden Besunder P.C. Ms. Besunder is renowned for her ability to offer exceptional guidance, delivering straightforward solutions to intricate issues. With over two decades of legal expertise, she represents a diverse clientele in the greater New York City metropolitan area and Long Island, addressing various legal needs, including:

1. Trusts + Estate Litigation
2. Contested Guardianships
3. Estate planning, including Wills, advance directives, and Powers of Attorney
4. Trust and estate administration
5. Commercial litigation
6. Business succession planning

Prior to her independent practice, Ms. Besunder gained over a decade of experience as a commercial litigation attorney at a prominent national law firm. Her notable achievements included assisting clients in the fashion industry with trademark and copyright matters, as well as combating counterfeiting. Additionally, she represented attorneys in disciplinary hearings before the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts’ Grievance Committees and advocated for First Amendment rights on behalf of small entertainment companies.

Within her estate planning and administration practice, Ms. Besunder provides exceptional counsel and support to clients, helping them safeguard their assets for the future and create lasting legacies for their heirs. She also leverages her intellectual property background to advise authors, musicians, and artists on the disposition of their works through their estate plans. Her genuine passion lies in guiding clients to proactively prepare for potential future challenges.

Ms. Besunder graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1995 and obtained her Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in 1998. She is licensed to practice law in New York and Massachusetts and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a respected leader in her field, Ms. Besunder has authored numerous publications and conducted various lectures and continuing legal education seminars across her region, covering topics ranging from estate planning to social media and ethics. Additionally, she serves as adjunct legal faculty at Columbia Law School, where she teaches estate planning classes.

Furthermore, Ms. Besunder has held positions as the former co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Special Task Force on Privacy Law and the association’s Technology Committee. She is also an active member of the Brooklyn Bar Association.