Samuel Joshua Silverman (25 September 1908 – 6 March 2001) was a three time New York State Supreme Court Justice and career litigator who was involved in several high-profile cases Born in Odesa, Ukraine (part of Russia at the time), his parents immigrated to New York City while he was still a toddler.
During his tenure Silverman represented Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist, at a 1954 loyalty hearing conducted by a panel of the Atomic Energy Commission.
He served there for four years before in 1966 becoming involved in a highly-public campaign with then-Senator Robert F. Kennedy, egged on by Liberal Party leader Alex Rose, to end patronage corruption in New York's Surrogate Court.
Specifically, members of the Democratic and Republican parties were cross endorsing each other's candidates for the court in order to promote individuals who would skim commission from inheritance cases and introduce some of these funds back into the political machine.
He remained at the state supreme court until he retired in 1984, when he returned as senior counsel for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.