Justice Silver is a native Bronxite attending public schools from elementary school until his graduation from Christopher Columbus High School. After graduation, Justice Silver attended New York University, where he was conferred a M.S. in Accounting and Management. He attended Hofstra University School of Law, where he was conferred a J.D. in 1983. Justice Silver was also conferred a M.B.A. in Finance from New York University Stern Graduate School of Business in 1992. At the time he was also working full time as in-house counsel for five private bus companies. Thereafter, he joined Fields & Rosen, a firm specializing in maritime law, commercial and real estate matters and personal injury actions, in addition to handling matters for the bus companies. After several years, Justice Silver became an equity partner in the firm, whose name was changed to Fields, Silver & Santo, L.L.P. and ultimately Silver & Santo, L.L.P.
In 2004, Justice Silver was elected to the Civil Court of the City of New York, being initially assigned to Civil Court, Kings County until he was re-assigned in April 2009 to Family Court, Bronx County, where he presided over juvenile delinquency matters. In January 2010, Judge Silver was appointed a Supreme Court Judge by designation and assigned to Supreme Court, New York County, where he presided over the approximately two thousand motor vehicle cases pending in New York County. From April 2011 until October 5, 2015, Justice Silver presided over the Trial Assignment Part in Supreme Court, New York County. In 2012, Justice Silver was also asked to handle potential early settlement of Medical Malpractice Cases as part of a specialized grant program. In 2012, Justice Silver was elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York. In October 2015 Justice Silver was asked to preside over a newly created Mediation Part called J-Med., in addition to his other assignments – – the Medical Malpractice Early Settlement Part and an IAS Part handling general matters. In 2016, Justice Silver was assigned a limited Matrimonial caseload. In July 2017, Justice Silver was appointed by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to the position of Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for New York City Courts. He is responsible for the handling of the day-to-day court operations for the Trial Courts in New York City. In addition, Justice Silver served as the interim Administrative Judge for Supreme Court, Civil Term, New York County until December 2017. Thereafter, in addition to his role as the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for New York City Courts, he served as the interim Administrative Judge for Bronx County from January 2018 until December 2018.
Justice Silver is also involved in many community-based and Bar Associations, including the NAACP, the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Judges, and the Jewish Lawyers Guild. He is currently co-chair of the Ethics and Professionalism Committee of The Torts, Insurance, and Compensation Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Justice Silver is also a new member of the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion of the New York State Bar Association.