Cecilia A. Silver

Biography

Cecilia A. Silver brings extensive teaching and litigation experience to her position as Assistant Professor of Legal Writing. Before joining Brooklyn Law School, Professor Silver was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she helped revamp the first-year Legal Practice Skills course, taught Civil Pretrial Litigation, and pioneered the role of Writing Specialist.

Professor Silver previously was Senior Counsel in the New York City Law Department’s Special Federal Litigation Division defending the City in federal civil rights cases. In that capacity, she acted as lead counsel on more than forty cases and handled all facets of trial preparation.

During her tenure at the Law Department, Professor Silver served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Before that, she clerked for Judge Thomas P. Griesa in the Southern District of New York and practiced complex commercial and intellectual property litigation at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Professor Silver also achieved favorable results for several pro bono clients, including obtaining a $750,000 verdict in an excessive-use-of-force trial and successfully briefing and arguing international and interstate child custody disputes before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and New York Appellate Division.

Professor Silver graduated from Princeton University cum laude with an A.B. in Art and Archaeology, earned her Master of Studies in History of Art and Visual Culture with distinction from Oxford University, and received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. At Georgetown, Professor Silver served as a Law Fellow teaching legal writing and was an Executive Editor of The Tax Lawyer.

Publications