Ms. Burke is a litigator in the areas of both professional and general liability. She represents insurance agents, brokers, real estate agents, lawyers, home inspectors, accountants, and officers/directors, and is highly experienced in all general insurance defense areas, including automobile law, premises liability, products liability, and defending insurance carriers in bad faith lawsuits.

An experienced trial and arbitration lawyer, Ms. Burke’s practice for the past 25 years has spanned across Western Pennsylvania. She is committed to her clients and works with them to reach the best resolution possible. Her experience includes risk management, managing litigation, trying cases, negotiating settlements, and handling appeals.

Ms. Burke represents clients seeking Protection from Abuse orders on a monthly basis through Neighborhood Legal Services as well as those seeking expungements of criminal records.  She also regularly sits as an Arbitrator overseeing disputes filed in the Allegheny County Arbitration division.

Ms. Burke is also an active member of the Allegheny County Bar Association. In the past she served as Council Member for Women in the Law Division, Civil Litigation Section, Chair of the Young Lawyers Division, and as a member of the Judiciary Committee, Gender Equality Task Force, and Board of Governors. Ms. Burke is a past Board Member and Secretary for the Professional Liability Defense Federation. She also served on the Duquesne University Law School Alumni Board as a Governor and as member of the PBA Women in Profession Committee.

Ms. Burke’s volunteer work outside of her practice centers on serving children and the elderly. She has been a volunteer with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia for over thirty years and has spent time reading with children through the Reading is Fundamental program. She was a member of the Board of Directors for Vincentian Collaborative System, and chaired its Compensation Committee.  VCS is a Catholic not-for-profit health care and human services organization that coordinates three senior care communities in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area.   Sheila also donates her time to her parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in North Hills as a lector, and has taught Children’s Liturgy and worked on the baptism preparation team. She volunteers at her children’s schools working as the Athletic Director for Holy Cross Academy and as the booster President for North Allegheny Girls Volleyball team.  She is an avid sports enthusiast and “retired” grade school basketball coach. She actively raises money every October for breast cancer research in Pittsburgh after having lost her mother to the disease.  Sheila also spent many years devoting time to promoting Allan’s Hope, a foundation which provided assistance to children who have lost a parent. Allan’s Hope was started by the wife of Allan Wertz, an attorney who Sheila worked with who was killed in an automobile accident in 2009.