Overview

About Arlene Zarembka

As an Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney, I provide comprehensive legal counsel and practical advice regarding your estate planning, as well as the documents that are necessary to protect you and your loved ones. These documents can include Wills, Trusts, Supplemental Needs/Special Needs Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Living Wills (end-of-life wishes), Beneficiary Deeds, Beneficiary Designations, as well as other documents. Documents are customized to your needs and wishes.

Although probate often can be avoided, I also handle probate matters when it is necessary for all or part of an estate to go through probate.

My experiences helping to care for my mother during her 16 years of decline due to Alzheimer's disease, dealing with my father's last illness and death, and handling financial and legal matters for my mother after my father died, provide me with personal, as well as practical, insights and perspectives that I bring to my Estate Planning and Elder Law practice.

My other areas of practice include Adoptions, Name Changes, Real Estate, and Security Clearance Appeals, as well as other matters on a case-by-case.

My law firm provides individualized friendly service, with attention to detail. Each client is a person, not a case. Telephone calls usually are returned by my paralegal or by me the same day, but no later than the next business day. Free notary services are provided for established clients.

I have been a consistent advocate throughout my career for civil rights, civil liberties, and justice for all. I have over a quarter-century of experience as an attorney representing lesbian, gay, and transgender persons, and advocating for LGBT rights.

I graduated cum laude from St. Louis University Law School (1974), and from Swarthmore College with Honors (1970). I founded my law firm in 1987, after six years as an attorney in Legal Services, and six years in a private practice partnership.

The firm's paralegal, Linda J. Lewis, has been employed by the firm since 1995. She has an Associates Degree in Applied Science - Legal Assistant (St. Louis Community College, 1994), and a B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice (University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1994).

See the "Practice Areas" section of my website for a description of each of my current areas of practice. Click on the "Arlene Zarembka" link under the "Attorney" section of my website for more details about my education, experience, memberships, advocacy, and awards.

My office is conveniently located in Olivette in St. Louis County, Missouri. There is free parking next to the building.

Your Lives Respected, Your Rights and Privacy Protected.


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Practice Areas
Professional Experience
ExperienceYears
Attorney/Owner, Law Office of Arlene Zarembka1987-Current
Areas of Practice include: Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Estate and Medicaid Planning, Special Needs Trusts, Probate, Real Estate, Step-Parent Adoptions, Name Changes, Security Clearances.
Attorney/partner, Gilchrist and Zarembka1981-1986
General practice
Staff Attorney, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri 1977-1980
Primary focus: representing neighborhoods and individuals threatened with displacement by urban redevelopment corporations.
Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer, North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society1974-1976
Represented low income persons in variety of legal matters; also represented a community group fighting strip mining.
Education
SchoolFocusDegreeYear
Saint Louis University School of Law - Saint Louis UniversityLawJ.D.1974
Honors: Graduated Cum Laude, Order of the Woolsack.
Swarthmore CollegeEconomics, RussianB.A.1970
Honors: Graduated with Honors, Phi Beta Kappa.
Professional Activities
ActivityOrganizationStart YearEnd Year
MemberAlzheimer's Association2009
Details: Public Policy Committee
MemberMissouri Bar Elder Law Committee2003
MemberBar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis2001
Details: Elder Law Committee; Individual Rights and Responsibilities Committee
Cooperating AttorneyACLU-Eastern Missouri1983
Details: ACLU-Eastern Missouri Legal Committee, 2004 to present
Member; officerPrivacy Rights Education Project (a/k/a PROMO)19872006
Details: Member of Legislative Committee,1987-2005; President 1990-1993.
Awards
AwardOrganizationYear
Civil Liberties ChampionACLU-Eastern Missouri2010
Social Justice HeroMetro Theater Company2009
Extraordinary Volunteer ServiceACLU-Eastern Missouri2008
Clarence Darrow Public Interest Advocate AwardSt. Louis University Public Interest Law Group1998
Humanitarian AwardUnion Sarah Community Corporation1980
Order of the WoolsackSt. Louis University Law School1974
Phi Beta KappaSwarthmore College1970
Professional Affiliations
PositionYears
Member, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys2007-Current
Cooperating Attorney, National Center for Lesbian Rights2004-Current
Member, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis2001-Current
Member, American Civil Liberties Union1988-Current
Cooperating Attorney, Lambda Legal1986-Current
Member, Missouri State Bar1974-Current

Publications

Publications
TitlePublisherPublished
Various commentaries Various publications
I have written about 90 published commentaries on civil rights, civil liberties, and social and economic justice.
To Establish Justice: Citizenship and the ConstitutionKnopf2004
Co-authored with Patricia C. McKissack. Book for young adults concerning the fight for equal rights, from the beginning of the country through 2003, with a special emphasis on Supreme Court decisions. Chapters include Native American removal, decisions affecting African Americans (Dred Scott, Plessy v Ferguson, Brown v Board of Education and post-Brown legal developments); Women's Rights, Japanese-American Internment, Disability Rights, Gay and Lesbian Rights, and Affirmative Action.
The Urban Housing Crisis: Social, Economic, and Legal Issues and ProposalsGreenwood Press1990
The Urban Housing Crisis focuses on four aspects of urban housing: Financing and Affordability; Production, Preservation, and Allocation; Discrimination; and Displacement; and proposes a housing plan.

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