Edward Burnham Burling (February 1, 1870 – September 3, 1966) was a prominent American lawyer and the named partner of the Washington, D.C.–based law firm of Covington & Burling.

[1] He grew up in Eldora, Iowa, and worked in a grocery store at age eleven, and went on to Grinnell College and then to Harvard Law School.

After graduation, he returned to the Midwest to practice in Chicago for almost 25 years.

Later he came to Washington as general counsel for the United States Shipping Board where he was introduced to Harry Covington.

In the 1940s, Burling was one of the core group brought together by Paul Nitze and Christian Herter to establish the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.