Ballard Spahr Chair Arthur Makadon today announced that Ira Silverstein, a prominent litigator who handles complex commercial cases, has joined the firm as a partner in its Philadelphia office.
Mr. Silverstein will be a member of Ballard Spahr’s Litigation Department, where he will continue his focus on complex matters.
"Ira is a highly regarded litigator, and his ERISA knowledge is extensive," Mr. Makadon said, referring to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. "We are seeing more and more ERISA cases, and they are more complicated than in the past, so he will be a great asset to our employee benefits practice, as well as providing an even deeper and stronger litigation capacity with real trial experience."
Mr. Silverstein said he is pleased at the idea of working with other Ballard Spahr attorneys to broaden his practice. "One of the things that appealed to me about Ballard Spahr was that the firm offered a wide-ranging opportunity to handle sophisticated litigation," he said.
Mr. Silverstein has handled many cases of note. He persuaded the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reverse itself and restore the validity of the Philadelphia Historic Preservation Ordinance in the closely followed Boyd Theatre case. In another case, while representing an insurance department as liquidator of a national life insurance company, Mr. Silverstein secured a landmark legal malpractice settlement and recovered a substantial sum for the company in related litigation.