Mr William Silverman > Proskauer Rose LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Proskauer Rose LLP Offices
11 TIMES SQUARE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10036-8299
NEW YORK
United States
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Mr William Silverman
Work Department
LITIGATION
Position
William C. Silverman is a partner responsible for leading Proskauer’s global pro bono efforts, which provide assistance to individual clients and nonprofit organizations in litigation as well as transactional matters. He focuses on identifying and securing pro bono opportunities and partnerships for Proskauer lawyers and ensuring widespread participation in these projects.
Bill has robust private and public sector experience and a strong criminal and civil background. He has worked extensively on government investigations and white collar criminal matters, as well as complex civil litigation in federal and state courts. He also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he led criminal investigations, conducted trials and handled Second Circuit appeals.
Throughout his career, Bill has dedicated himself to the promotion of equal access to justice through pro bono service, particularly in the area of family court, anti-trafficking, and immigration.
Bill spearheaded a partnership among several law firms, corporations and the New York City Family Court to provide free legal advice to pro se litigants. The New York City Family Court Volunteer Attorney Program now has more than 400 volunteer attorneys from 40 major firms and corporations. Bill also helped build a coalition of organizations in a successful effort to secure additional Family Court judges in New York. He is now part of an effort spearheaded by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to simplify the New York Court System from 11 trial courts to three.
Bill serves as counsel to the New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition. In that capacity he has been a strong advocate for changes in the law and public policy to protect victims of human trafficking and bring perpetrators to justice. He also represents individual clients in this area, including a successful federal lawsuit brought on behalf of a trafficking victim against her traffickers. For his work, he was named by domestic violence nonprofit Sanctuary For Families as one of “New York’s New Abolitionists.”
Bill has spoken at numerous conferences and events, including New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s Hearings on Civil Legal Services and the American Bar Association’s Equal Justice Conference. In 2014, he attended a meeting at the White House with Vice President Joe Biden and other policymakers on the need for access to legal services in immigration proceedings.
Bill has been recognized for his public service with the Abely Pro Bono Leadership Award from Sanctuary For Families and Columbia Law School (2019); the Special Leadership Award for All-Around Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility & the Law from City & State Reports (2015); the Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Partner from inMotion (2008); and the Matthew G. Leonard Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Achievement from MFY Legal Services (2007).
Outside of his work at the firm, Bill serves on various committees and non-profit boards. Bill is currently chairman of the Fund for Modern Courts, a non-partisan citizen organization devoted to improving New York State courts, and is formerly chairman of Legal Information For Families Today (LIFT), an organization devoted to unrepresented litigants in Family Court.
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Industry focus > Sport
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Insurance > Advice to policyholders
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Tax > International tax
- Tax > Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending