Press Release

Boston, MA, Jan. 11, 2023 – Burns & Levinson announced today that Debra Silberstein, Ph.D., a partner in the firm’s industry-leading Private Client Group, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Massachusetts Chapter (MassNAELA). Her two-year term began on January 1, 2023.

Silberstein has more than 30 years of experience working with clients to navigate a wide range of trusts and estates, family philanthropic planning, tax, and elder law matters. She has specialized expertise helping families not only plan for their future, but for the needs of their children or relatives with disabilities and related challenges. She brings deep experience and a high level of creativity and insight to these challenges.

Silberstein has been engaged in advocacy work throughout her career. With both a law degree and a doctorate degree in social policy and philanthropy, she leverages her background in inter-generational philanthropic planning to support many nonprofit organizations. In addition to her new role on the MassNAELA Board, she currently serves on the Planned Giving Advisory Council for the Carter Center in Atlanta, GA, is a member of the Board of Visitors for McLean Hospital, and serves on the Board of the Anti-Defamation League, New England. She recently served on the American Hospital Association Board of Governors, and spent 10 years as a Trustee of Lawrence General Hospital, including two as Board Chair.

She received the 2018 Powley Elder Law Award from the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys for her impressive contributions to the field. Silberstein was also named a “Family/Elder Law Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal in 2022. She received her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law, a Ph.D. in social policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University and a B.A. in economics from Syracuse University.