James G. Silva

Areas of Practice

Attorney James G. Silva has approximately 20 years' experience in handling business law, intellectual property, contracts, and estate planning matters. Mr. Silva has helped form and fund businesses in many different fields including solar, software, internet sales, medical records, cannabis, and beverages. He drafts and negotiates all manner of contracts and assists clients with the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of businesses. He prepares Regulation D security offerings and has created real estate investment syndication, as well as multi-million dollar private security offerings for the beverage and cannabis industries. Attorney Silva advises clients on intellectual property law (patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret) and maximizing brands. In particular, he performs and analyzes intellectual property searches, creates and files federal and state trademark registrations, drafts and files copyright registrations, and negotiates and creates intellectual property licenses. In conjunction with business and IP law, Attorney Silva consults with clients on estate planning and drafts all necessary related documents including trusts.

Personal/Professional Experience

Mr. Silva was raised in Cumberland, Rhode Island. For several years, he was a microbiologist involved in genetics and participated in creating the first complete human genome map in 1995 at the Whitehead Institute/M.I.T. Center for Genome Research. He began his career in 2001 and spent 15 years as a solo practitioner, after which he spent four years at a small firm in Lowell, Massachusetts before joining Gallagher and Cavanaugh LLP in 2021.

Publicationss

Copyright Protection of Biotechnology Works: Into the Dustbin of History? Intellectual Property and Technology Forum, Boston College Law School, January 2000.
A Gene Map of the Human Genome Science, 1996 October 25; 274: 540-546.
An STS-Based Map of the Human Genome Science, 1995 December 22; 270: 1945-1954

Bar and Court Admissions

Attorney Silva was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1999 and New York in 2000. He is also a member of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office bar as of 1999.

Education

J.D. (specialization in intellectual property), University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, Concord, NH, 1999
B.S. (microbiology), University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, MA

Activities

Mr. Silva has been extensively involved with local charities and municipal/regional government. He was an elected member of the Board of Selectmen in Westford, Massachusetts from 2003-2006 and served for many years on the Westford Affordable Housing Committee, Cable Advisory Committee, and many other town committees. Since 2003 he has been one of the representatives for the Town of Westford on the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (NMCOG). From 2009 through 2015 he served on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell and was president for three of those years. He was also a captain in the Massachusetts State Defense Force (an auxiliary unit for the MA National Guard) from 2012 through 2016