Gregory Silbert is a partner in the firm’s Appellate practice group. He has extensive experience litigating in both federal and state appellate courts. He has argued dozens of appeals and briefed many more, successfully representing clients in courts of last resort and intermediate appellate courts.
Recent significant matters litigated by Mr. Silbert include a successful appeal to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Schindler Elevator Corporation, winning an important victory for the company in a case that interpreted the public disclosure bar of the False Claims Act. He also briefed and argued an appeal on behalf of UnitedHealth Group that led to one of the first appellate decisions under New York State's False Claims Act, and which resulted in the complete dismissal of a complaint asserting hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Mr. Silbert also represented the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in a high-profile appeal to the Court of Appeals of the State of New York that led to the reversal of an intermediate appellate court’s decision finding the Port Authority liable for damages caused by the 1993 terrorist attack at New York’s World Trade Center. Other clients for which he has litigated appeals include Avaya, CBS, eBay, Farmers Insurance, General Electric, Lehman Brothers, L’Oreal, Morgan Stanley, Sotheby’s, Tyco, and The Walt Disney Company.
Mr. Silbert is widely recognized for his expertise in appellate advocacy. From 2010 to 2011, he served on California Attorney General Kamala Harris' transition committee, advising on issues relating to appellate litigation. In addition to his many speaking engagements, Mr. Silbert was an invited panelist at the St. John’s Law School Third Annual Constitutional Law Panel in 2009 and at the New York City Bar’s 2010 Annual Bench Bar Forum on appeals.
Mr. Silbert maintains an active pro bono practice, providing legal assistance to organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, Citizens Union of the City of New York, the Innocence Project, the Legal Aid Society, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, among others. He serves on the board of directors of Citizens Union and of the Delancey Street Foundation.
Mr. Silbert clerked for two federal appellate judges: David S. Tatel, of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and Marsha S. Berzon, of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1999, where he was Symposium Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He joined Weil in 2007, after serving as Assistant Solicitor General of the State of New York.