Samuel Silbert was appointed assistant police prosecutor by Mayor Newton D. Baker in 1911, four years after graduating with honors from night school at Cleveland Law School. Silbert then served 54 years on the bench in Cleveland: 10 years as a municipal judge and 44 in Common Pleas Court, where he was Chief Justice from 1955-63. Specializing in domestic relations law, he taught for 35 years at Cleveland Law School and its successor, Cleveland-Marshall Law School. He also served as a trustee of the school and received an honorary Master of Laws degree from John Marshall Law School as well as a Doctor of Laws from Cleveland-Marshall.