Judge Jonathan Silbert was recently interviewed by the New Haven County Bar Association as part of their new “Legends of the Bar” series. This series features interviews with legal legends in the New Haven area conducted by Attorney Rick Roberts of Nuzzo & Roberts. You can watch the full interview here.
Judge Silbert describes himself as an “accidental lawyer,” who found the legal field after exploring different paths in college. After attending Harvard Law School, Judge Silbert began working for the New Haven Legal Assistance Association. Reflecting on his time at LAA, Judge Silbert said that it taught him that “lawyers can do things to make things better on an incremental basis.”
When asked what he liked and didn’t like about being a judge, Judge Silbert said “There was very little I didn’t like . . .Every morning, I would get up wondering what sort of puzzle I was going to unravel that day, what sort of interesting situation I was going to encounter. It was a wonderful feeling every day.”
While at Dartmouth College for his undergraduate degree, Judge Silbert minored in Russian Civilization, a part of his background that played an important role in his career. He chaired the Connecticut-Pskov Rule of Law Partnership, an affiliate of the Russian-American Rule of Law Consortium, which was a multi-state federally-funded effort to allow American and Russian legal professionals to share their experiences. Judge Silbert discussed the progress the program had hoped to achieve.
At the end of the interview, Judge Silbert also offered some words of wisdom for young lawyers starting out in their careers. Judge Silbert advised that young lawyers pay attention to what other lawyers do in the courtroom, especially the mistakes they make, so they know to avoid making them themselves. He also encouraged young lawyers to feel comfortable asking other lawyers questions, suggesting that most attorneys are flattered to be asked and that few would decline to help them.
The lawyers of Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C. have been advocating for employee and civil rights throughout Connecticut for 45 years. From our offices in New Haven, we provide award-winning representation in all aspects of Connecticut employment law. Judge Silbert was a founding partner of the firm and, upon retirement from the bench, returned there as of counsel with a practice focused on mediation and arbitration.