DECEMBER 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 25
ADAM P. SILVERS LEGAL EAGLE
By WARREN STRUGATCH
Adam P. Silvers joined Ruskin
Moscou Faltischek P.C.’s corporate
and securities law department in 1998;
previously he was counsel to a New
York software advisory firm. He was
named a partner in 2003, becoming
at age 35 one of the firm’s youngest
partners. That year he cofounded
the firm’s CFO Roundtable, a monthly
gathering of private-company chief
financial officers. Silvers was named
co-managing partner in 2014 alongside
Mark Mulholland; in 2015 he assumed
the role of managing partner. He has
served on his firm’s Management
Advisory Council since 2009 and
co-chairs its Corporate & Securities
Department. He and his family live
in Commack. This interview has been
edited for length and clarity.
For most of us, our parents are
our first influencers. How did yours
influence you? My mom, Barbara,
worked for the federal government
in the Social Security Administration.
My father, Barry, worked for
the government too; he handled
labor racketeering (prosecution). He
retired at age 50, same age I am now.
They’re both alive and well. My parents
shepherded my sisters and me
to become doctors or lawyers. They
were very, very big on education.
And you chose law, obviously.
How did you get started? After Carnegie
Mellon as an undergrad and then
Albany Law School I worked for a
general practice law firm and then for
a software company. I came on board
at Ruskin Moscou Faltischek in 1998.
This was the dot-com boom. The firm
was making a big expansion on the
corporate side. It became fairly clear
early on that this was where I wanted
to plant myself, doing corporate work.
How were your early experiences
at Ruskin Moscou? I worked 33 days
straight without a day off! There was
so much work coming in the door.
I was struck by how friendly and
helpful everyone was. We had dinner
together every night. I got to know
my coworkers quickly. It was a great
experience. Every day brought a new
challenge.
Your firm’s changed quite a
bit since that time. We’re much
bigger, for one thing. And we’ve
transitioned from first generation
to second generation as a law firm.
Mel Ruskin founded the firm in 1968.
He still comes in to work. Not every
firm is able to make this transition.
It can be painful.
How do you make the generational
transition work? If
there’s one thing to focus on, it’s
communication.
Describe your own communication
style. I’m a communicator and
consensus builder. I want to hear
other people’s views. Managing
people — managing relationships —
is clearly the biggest management
challenge. It all comes down to
communications. You owe it to the
people you manage to sit them down
and describe your decision-making
process. You don’t want to be throwing
edicts out from the corner office.
You mentioned that the firm
continues to grow. When I took
over we were around 45 lawyers.
Now we are around 70 including 22
litigation attorneys.
Where has growth come from?
It’s come organically and it’s come
through laterals as well. We just
completed a small acquisition, a
three-partner New York law firm,
Ohrenstein & Brown. They’re in the
Chrysler Building.
Could you describe the process
by which you became managing
partner? I became co-managing
partner in 2013. Finding my sea
legs took a little time. Fortunately I
had Mark by my side to show me the
ropes. The transition from making
decisions together to making them
on my own was pretty orderly.
You turned 50 this year. So did
Ruskin Moscou Faltischek. Congratulations
to you both! I was
born the year Mel incorporated. It’s
so satisfying to see how happy Mel
is to see his legacy thriving and its
impact on Long Island continue to
grow
C-SUITE
Adam Silvers is Managing Partner of the high-powered law firm Ruskin
Moscou Faltischek, P.C.
"It all comes down to communications .... You don’t
want to be throwing edicts out from the corner office."