Richard A. Silver | Attorney

Richard A. Silver, senior partner of Silver Golub & Teitell, has long been recognized as a leader of the litigation bar in the State of Connecticut and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America under Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Litigation for the last 20 years. The July 2007 issue of Connecticut Magazine listed Mr. Silver as one of the top 10 lawyers in the state, and he has also been included in Connecticut Magazine's Super Lawyers since its inception. Mr. Silver has also appeared numerous times on Court TV and other media outlets to comment on important issues involving civil litigation. His practice areas include medical malpractice, automobile negligence, product liability and commercial litigation.

A former president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, Mr. Silver currently serves on its Board and chairs its Medical Malpractice Committee. He is also past President of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a prestigious organization of Connecticut plaintiff and defense trial attorneys.

In 2008, Mr. Silver, together with his partner, Angelo Ziotas, obtained the largest jury verdict in a medical malpractice action in Connecticut history, when a Stamford jury awarded his clients 38.5 million dollars in order to compensate a young boy who suffered severe neurological injuries during child birth.

Historically, Mr. Silver has accomplished many significant and ground breaking results for his clients. He was trial counsel in the case of Katsetos v. Nolan, a decision affirmed by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which, at the time, was the highest death verdict in the State of Connecticut. The Katsetos case is frequently cited as authority in medical malpractice cases. A number of years later, Mr. Silver won a $3.6 million verdict in Pisel v. Stamford Hospital, the first verdict over $1 million in the State of Connecticut. He routinely obtains some of the largest jury verdicts and settlements in Connecticut, including a $10 million settlement for his clients in a medical malpractice case involving a misdiagnosis and resulting in brain damage of an infant; a $9 million settlement for his clients in a medical malpractice case involving birth trauma; a $16.7 million settlement for his clients in a medical malpractice case resulting in permanent brain damage of a woman as a result of an anesthesiologist's failure to properly monitor vital signs during the cesarean section delivery of her first child; $13.2 million settlement for his clients in a medical malpractice case involving a 35 year old woman with three children who sustained brain damage during a routine tubal ligation procedure.

Although these examples are all cases involving medical negligence, Mr. Silver has also obtained numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for clients who have been severely injured in serious accidents. Mr. Silver was lead counsel in the Mianus River Bridge collapse cases and participated as counsel in the L'Ambiance Plaza building failure cases. In addition, Mr. Silver was counsel for numerous plaintiffs in the Bhopal, India gas explosion and was a member of the 28-person national executive committee controlling that litigation.

Mr. Silver obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. He has taught trial practice at the Yale Law School and is on the Advisory Board of the Quinnipiac Law School. He has served as Chairman of the Judicial Selection Commission, which Commission is charged with the selection of new judges and reappointment of sitting judges. He has also served as a case evaluator for other attorneys' cases on behalf of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Silver has been called upon by the Courts of the State of Connecticut, and has served as a Special Master for the Federal and State Courts in Connecticut.

He has been the author of a number of articles, including: The Connecticut Torts Conflict of Law Rule: A Proposal for Change, Connecticut Bar Journal and Survey of Recent Developments Relating to Medical Malpractice, Connecticut Law Tribune. He has, for a number of years, been the Chairman of the Annual Trial Demonstration Program for the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, including Trial Techniques in Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Products Liability, and Automobile Accident Cases.

Mr. Silver has lectured extensively in subjects relating to law for the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association on medical malpractice, proving damages, products liability, structured settlements, business torts and commercial litigation.

Mr. Silver has been admitted to the Bar of the State of Connecticut, the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and the U.S. Supreme Court.