Richard A. Silver

Richard A. Silver, senior partner of Silver Golub & Teitell LLP, 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, Medical Malpractice and Product Liability Litigation for the last 25 years.  Mr. Silver has been included in Connecticut Super Lawyers* since its inception and has been listed as one of the Top 10 lawyers in the state every year since 2007.  Mr. Silver has appeared numerous times on Court TV and other media outlets to comment on important issues involving civil litigation.

Areas of Practice

• Medical Malpractice
• Serious Personal Injury
• Birth Injuries
• Complex Civil Litigation
• Traumatic and Acquired Brain Injuries
• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Wrongful Death

• Connecticut
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

• University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, VA, Juris Doctor

• University of Pennsylvania, Bachelor of Arts

• Quinnipiac University School of Law, Hamden, CT, Hon. Doctor of Laws

• The Best Lawyers in America® (Medical Malpractice Law, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, Product Liability Litigation), 1987-Present
• Listed in Best Lawyers® – “The New York Area’s Best Lawyers,” 2006-Present
• Listed in Connecticut Super Lawyers, Connecticut Magazine, 2006-Present*
• Listed in Connecticut Super Lawyers, “The Top 10 Lawyers in Connecticut,” Connecticut Magazine, 2007-Present
• Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association – Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003

Academic

• Trial Practice, Yale Law School, Adjunct (1978-1984)
• Trial Practice, Quinnipiac Law School
• Quinnipiac University School of Law – Member, Advisory Board (1982-present)
• Quinnipiac University Medical School – Member, Advisory Board (2011-present)
• Quinnipiac University – Member, Board of Trustees (2011-present)

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association (President, 1991-1992; Board of Governors, 1977-present; Co-Chairman, Medical Malpractice Committee; Co-Chairman, Annual Trial Demonstration)
• American Board of Trial Advocates (President, Connecticut Chapter, 1994-1996)
• The American Law Institute (Member, 1992-present)
• The American Association for Justice (Member, 1993-present)

Judicial

• Federal and State Courts in Connecticut (Special Master)
• Judicial Selection Commission, State of Connecticut (Chairman, 1992-1995)
• Judicial Civil Commission, State of Connecticut
• Public Service & Trust Commission

• Blog: Food for Thought — Medical Malpractice: By the Numbers
• Blog: In Military Care, A Pattern of Errors …
• Blog: Dramatic Increase in Hospital Deaths and Injuries As a Result of Medical Errors
• State to Expand Court-Sponsored ADR Programs
• CTLA Civil Justice Foundation Presents Mediation/Settlement Seminar
• Richard Silver: Adversary to Harm
• Building Bridges Between Law, Medical Schools
• Court Upholds $5 Million Malpractice Verdict, August 2012
• Husband of coma victim wins justice award, July 2012
• Norwalk woman dies, spent 9 years in coma, April 2012
• Richard and Vivienne Silver Honored at Bartlett Arboretum Gala, September 2011
• Stamford Lawyer to Play Role with New Quinnipiac Medical School, September 2011
• Ex-Marine’s Estate Collects $3M After Faulty Diagnosis, August 2011
• Legal Advice for a New Medical School, July 2011
• Preserve the Right to Pick an Unbiased Jury, by Richard Silver and Amanda Whitman, January 2011
• Jury Awards $5M To Cancer Patient, Husband, May 2010
• Record Medical Malpractice Verdict Upheld
• Jury Awards $38.5 Million in Malpractice Case, Stamford Advocate, February, 2008
• Doctors Fail to Diagnose Man’s Thyroid Cancer
• The Facts About Doctors’ Opinions by Richard Silver and Amanda Whitman

Obtaining history-making verdicts

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

Mr. Silver has accomplished many significant and groundbreaking 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 greater than $1 million in the state of Connecticut.  He routinely obtains some of the largest jury verdicts and settlements in Connecticut, including the following:

• An $11.8 million settlement for a 49-year-old father of three young children who suffered brain damage in a motor vehicle accident
• 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
• A $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
• A $5 million verdict to a cancer patient and her husband for her doctor’s failure to warn her she had an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer

Mr. Silver has also obtained many multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements for clients who have been severely injured in serious accidents.  He was lead counsel, for example, in the Mianus River Bridge collapse cases.

• “Preserve the Right to Pick an Unbiased Jury,” Connecticut Law Tribune, January 2011 (Co-Author with Amanda Whitman)
• “Courts Opine on Physician’s Written Opinions,” Connecticut Law Tribune, Medical Malpractice Insert, November, 2009 (Co-Author with Amanda Whitman)
• “A Trial is a Drama Not a Play,” CTLA Forum, Special Past President’s Edition, Summer 2008
• “Understanding the New Physician’s Opinion Requirement for Medical Malpractice Actions,” Connecticut Law Tribune
• “Preparing Birth Injury Case Prior to Expert Review of Causation,” Connecticut Law Tribune
• “The Connecticut Torts Conflict of Law Rule: A Proposal for Change,” Connecticut Bar Journal
• “Survey of Recent Developments Relating to Medical Malpractice,” Connecticut Law Tribune
• “Million Dollar Arguments,” Professional Techniques Library-Pisel v. Stamford Hospital
• “The Facts About Doctors’ Opinions,” Connecticut Law Tribune (Co-Author with Amanda Whitman)

Sharing his expertise with the legal community

A former president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, Mr. Silver currently serves on its board and co-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.

Mr. Silver has taught trial practice at 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 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 served as a special master for the federal and state courts in Connecticut.

He has authored numerous articles and lectured extensively for the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association on medical malpractice, proving damages, products liability, structured settlements, business torts and commercial litigation.

Support for the Community

Mr. Silver is committed to supporting the community and is actively involved in sponsoring charitable causes throughout the year.  His generous support for the Silver Educational Center at the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford is one example of his dedication to charity. The Silver Educational Center is named in honor of Mr. Silver’s family.