Paula D. Silsby

Who is Paula D. Silsby?

Paula D. Silsby is a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine. Both her father and her grandfather have been Superior Court justices. Her father, Judge Herbert T. Silsby, is a Superior Court justice in Ellsworth, Maine.

She obtained her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1973 and her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law in 1976. She served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine from 1977 until 2001. She served as chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney's office from 1994 until 2001.

In 1985, she was a co-founder of the Pine Grove Child Development Center, Inc. In 1998, she received the Caroline Duby Glassman award from the Maine Bar Association. This award is given annually to a woman who has done the most to advance the position of women in the legal profession. She also has received Attorney General Janet Reno's Director's Award for Executive Achievement. Active in the Alumni Association of the University of Maine School of Law, she has served two terms on that association's board of directors. In 2005, she received the Deborah Morton Award from the University of New England.