LSW founding partner John S. Siffert received the 2024 Leon Silverman Award from the New York-Downstate State Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers on May 21, 2024.

The bi-annual award is presented to “a practicing lawyer or retired judge whose career has exemplified the qualities of ethics and professionalism embodied in the College’s Code of Pretrial and Trial Conduct and whose actions and accomplishments manifest a lifetime of commitment to advancing the administration of justice through service in the legal profession, the judiciary, government or public service.” 

The entire LSW family, past and present, congratulates John on this honor bestowed by his colleagues in the trial bar in recognition of his distinguished career.

John’s many accomplishments include: service as an Assistant United States Attorney in the civil and criminal divisions of the US Attorney’s Office of the SDNY; 40-plus years of private practice; co-authorship of the leading treatise Modern Federal Jury Instructions; commitment to public service including as Chair of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Executive and Nominating Committees of the New York City Bar Association, Executive Committee of the Board of the Practising Law Institute, Vice President of the Historical Society of the New York Courts, Board of the Supreme Court Historical Society, Board of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers; his appointments by Chief Justice Roberts to Judicial Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules as well as the Evidence Rules Committee; his 45 year teaching career as an Adjunct Professor at NYU law school; his initiative to have the ACTL Foundation provide stipends for first generation law students selected by Just The Beginning Foundation to work as summer judicial interns for federal judges and to recruit  ACTL Fellows to serve as mentors for the summer interns; in addition to his work as co-founder of the Federal Bar Council Inn of Court. 

Previous award recipients include: 

Hon. Leonard B. Sand, Conrad K. Harper, Robert B. Fiske, Jr., Gustave Newman, Patricia M. Hynes, Hon. Judith Kaye, Hon. John F. Keenan, Audrey Strauss, Hon. Jed S. Rakoff.

The American College of Trial Lawyers is an invitation only fellowship of exceptional trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds from the United States and Canada. The College maintains and seeks to improve the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice through education and public statements on important legal issues relating to its mission.  The College strongly supports the independence of the judiciary, trial by jury, respect for the rule of law, access to justice, and fair and just representation of all parties to legal proceedings.