Our Firm

Silverman Thompson is a top-rated premier regional litigation firm. Our lawyers regularly represent clients in high-stakes and complex civil, criminal, and administrative matters in Maryland, Washington D.C., and across the United States.  

Silverman Thompson’s team of 40+ attorneys are renowned litigators and trusted figures in the Maryland community, ranging from former prosecutors, former federal judges, former deans of law schools, and previous partners of major national firms. 

While we handle cases across the United States, the majority of the Firm’s lawyers are based in a single office in downtown Baltimore, with its Baltimore County and Washington D.C. offices close by. As a result, Silverman Thompson has a collaborative and collegial culture unlike any other and is the only law firm named in Baltimore Magazine’s and The Baltimore Sun’s “Best Places to Work” issue. 

Our Work

It’s a known fact that lawyers who go to court regularly are more connected and better positioned in the legal community. Our attorneys go to court more frequently than any other firm in the state, consistently performing at the highest level. This roster of personable, connected, and nationally-ranked litigators has unique medley of experience, interpersonal skills, and an overall affinity for courtroom success. 

There are very few mid-sized firms like ours that have represented a client list this high profile and diverse—and take on challenges of this scale. We consistently represent Maryland’s and the nation’s most high-profile and consequential cases due to our experienced, adaptable, and collaborative team. 

Our Practice Areas:

• Administrative Law & Defense of Professionals
• State & Federal Appeals
• Business Counseling, Litigation & Transactions
• State Criminal Defense & Investigations
• White-Collar Investigations & Federal Criminal Defense
• Driving Under the Influence & Other Traffic Offenses
• Estates, Trusts & Fiduciary
• Family Law, Divorce & Child Custody
• Landlord-Tenant
• Baltimore City Liquor Board Processes
• Medical Malpractice & Professional Negligence
• Personal Injury
• Real Estate
• Sports, Entertainment & Gaming Law
• Victim’s Rights
• Zoning, Land Use & Construction Litigation

As this team has varying degrees of expertise and experience across every facet of the law, when you hire one Silverman Thompson attorney, you are hiring decades of knowledge from across the entire office. We have a unique endless opportunity to caucus ideas and strategy and leverage relationships, all with the same goal of client success. 

Whether we are presented with a high-profile matter or an individual’s first time navigating the legal system, we are known for the time, care, and expertise our litigation teams put into a case. The highest level of trust we can receive is getting the call to represent a member of the legal community. We represent politicians from the State House to the White House. We represent judges, prosecutors, and Department of Justice officials; our adversaries call us when they need help. 

Our Reputation

Silverman Thompson attorneys are considered some of the best in the region and nation. Our team includes: 

• A dean of three nationally-acclaimed law schools 

• 10 former federal prosecutors 

• Three former public defenders  

• One Maryland General Assembly member 

• A Maryland Supreme Court justice who retired early to join the Firm 

• A former U.S. District Court judge 

The Silverman Thompson team is consistently recognized with top honors and awards, including:  

• 18 attorneys recognized by the 2025 edition of US News: Best Lawyers and multiple practice groups ranked as top-tier 

• 25+ career Super Lawyers, including 17 on the 2025 list 

• Partners from all practice groups recognized by The Daily Record as Lawyer of the Year, Most Influential People in Criminal Practice, Family Law Power List, and Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice List 

• “Perfect 10: Superb” Avvo ratings 

• University of Baltimore Dean’s Award 

• Nine Best Law Firms 2025 practice areas ranked by Best Lawyers 

Lawyers from our Firm have been appointed by the Governor as both state and federal judges on the Maryland Supreme Court and Federal District Court of Maryland. Additionally, they have been appointed by the Governor to serve as chair or members of trial lawyers and appellate judicial commissions.

Additional Governor-appointed positions and citations include:  

• Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission for Baltimore County 

• Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities 

• Citation for service to the Maryland Judiciary 

• Maryland Appellate Trial Courts Nominating Commission chairperson  

Our lawyers are in leadership positions of various bar associations and members of the non-profit boards, including (but not limited to): 

• Bar Association of Baltimore City 
• Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) 
• MSBA Lawyer Assistance Program Committee 
• Maryland Bar Foundation 
• American Bar Association 
• Baltimore City and County Liquor Boards 
• The League for People With Disabilities  
• Itineris, Inc.  
• One Love Foundation 

Our History

The Firm was founded in 1994 when Managing Partner Steven D. Silverman left government service with the vision of forming an elite trial and litigation law firm.  

His goal was to bring together experienced criminal trial lawyers who had accelerated their trial skills by going to court daily during their government service. This includes former U.S. and States attorneys as well as felony public defenders. 

Starting in the late ’90s, the Firm achieved enormous and rapid success, quickly expanding into civil litigation within a year of opening its doors to meet the needs of our ever-growing client base.  

Since the Firm’s inception, we have been known to be fearless, appropriately aggressive, and take on any case with confidence and competence. As adaptable attorneys, we consistently put our clients’ interests first, with both pragmatic and strategic approaches.  

Since 1991, Mr. Silverman has represented thousands of criminal clients in courts throughout Maryland and the mid-Atlantic region. He has not lost a jury trial in any criminal matter in over two decades. In recent years, he has expanded his civil practice, representing a range of clients from victims of the Capital Gazette Mass Shooting to the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

Mr. Thompson is a former prosecutor who has practiced exclusively criminal defense since leaving the State’s Attorney’s Office in 1998. As the head of the Firm’s criminal defense practice group, he has since successfully defended thousands of clients in criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to serious felonies, including murder.  

Mr. White is a former United States Attorney with decades of trial experience. He has tried over 400 state and federal criminal cases, including 30 federal jury trials, and coordinated both the prosecution and the defense of dozens of complex federal criminal investigations.

Mr. Slutkin has over three decades of experience as a trial lawyer in extremely complex civil litigation in Maryland and Washington, D.C. He primarily represents plaintiffs as a catastrophic injury lawyer in matters such as medical malpractice cases, wrongful death cases, product liability cases, and cases involving major collisions, fires, and drownings.  

Monica Scherer and Avery Strachan joined the Firm in 2000 and 2005, respectively, to expand the Firm’s civil practice in domestic and real estate, which grew into the robust civil litigation group we have today. Bill Sinclair joined Silverman Thompson in 2011 and now leads the Firm’s business litigation group.

Judge Murphy, long-standing judge and author of the Maryland Evidence Handbook, retired from the Maryland Court of Appeals (now The Supreme Court of Maryland) before his mandatory retirement date to practice at Silverman Thompson.  

For over a decade, Judge Murphy was instrumental to the Firm’s success as a lawyer, judge, and mentor to every attorney at the Firm. Throughout his tenure, he helped shape the legal minds of experienced litigators and recent law school graduates alike. His service to the Firm was and still is an invaluable resource as we remember our colleague and friend. Read his obituary in the Baltimore Sun here.