Earl J. Silbert is a partner with DLA Piper, based in Washington, DC. He was formerly a principal with the law firm of Schwalb, Donnenfeld & Silbert in Washington, DC, from 1979 to June 1998.

Mr. Silbert concentrates on white collar crime investigations and trials, civil and criminal tax, securities, defense procurement, environment, health care, and representation of lawyers and law firms on ethical, malpractice, and partnership issues. Prior to entering private practice, he served for nearly twenty years in the government as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (1974-1979), in the Tax Division and Deputy Attorney General's Office of the Department of Justice, and as an Assistant United States Attorney. While in the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. Silbert, together with two other Assistant US Attorneys, served as the first Watergate prosecutor.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Mr. Silbert has served on the faculty of numerous American Bar Association and other continuing legal education programs, and has written extensively in the areas of white collar crime, the attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine for corporations and their employees, RICO, and other litigation issues.

Mr. Silbert is past president of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a former chairperson of the Federal District Court Committee on Grievances for the District of Columbia, and a former president of the National Association of Former US Attorneys.

He currently serves as a member of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Advisory Commission on Sentencing. He also served as a member of the Practitioners Advisory Group to the United States Sentencing Commission.

In 2009, the Council for Court Excellence honored him with the Justice Potter Stewart Award for his work to improve the judicial system, both as a United Sates Attorney and subsequently in private practice.

The respected English publisher Chambers & Partners cites Mr. Silbert in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, noting he is "a legend of the national white-collar Bar" who "provides superb advice and strategy for criminal defense." In 2007, Washingtonian magazine named him to its list of Washington's top lawyers. Mr. Silbert has been named a Washington, DC Super Lawyer and among the Top 100 Super Lawyers in the Washington area. He has been listed among Lawdragon's 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Massachusetts

Memberships

• President, American College of Trial Lawyers
• President, National Association of Former United States Attorneys
• President, Assistant US Attorney's Association for the District of Columbia
• Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers (Chairperson, District of Columbia, and Regent)
• Master of Bench, Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court
• Former Master of Bench, Fahy Inn of Court
• Practitioners Advisory Group, United States Sentencing Commission
• District of Columbia Advisory Commission on Sentencing
• Former Chair, Grievance Committee, United States District Court, District of Columbia
• Former Chair, Hearing Committee, Board of Professional Responsibility, District of Columbia

Publications

• Co-author, with Demme Joannou, “Under Pressure to Catch the Crooks: The Impact of Corporate Privilege Waivers on the Adversarial System,” American Criminal Law Review, Summer 2006

Prior Experience

• Tax Division, US Department of Justice
• Assistant US Attorney
• Office of Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice
• Principal Assistant US Attorney, District of Columbia
• US Attorney, District of Columbia
• Principal, Schwalb, Donnenfeld Bray & Silbert, P.C.